Semester Testing Research Paper

While a few standardized tests over a student’s school career can be helpful to make sure students are on track and teachers are educating their students, the United States education system has far too many standardized tests. The U.S should reduce the number of tests given to students each year. The current amount of testing stresses students and forces teachers to “teach to the test”. Standardized testing has not and will not improve the American school

Today is test day, an obstacle that in time will falsely decide a student’s future academically and morally. He has one chance to portray his academic performance in such limited time, having to forcefully disregard whether or not he is in fact emotionally prepped on the given day. There is an unnecessary surplus of students who share such experiences, who too have had their dreams and talents ripped by automated grading. This tale is nothing new, such senseless obstacles have troubled generations. Standardized tests are not a valid measurement of academic success and should be discontinued due to their one-size fits all curriculum, inaccurate performance judgment on a given day, and inefficient test taking times.

The use of standardized testing to measure students’ knowledge is an inaccurate reflection of their capabilities. By being forced to take a test that does not effectively show their abilities, students become overstressed, and the tests themselves do not promote true academic achievement. Rather than learning about subjects in order to gain knowledge, students simply memorize facts and formulas to get a decent test score. Standardized tests are not an appropriate measure of student performance, only benefit certain groups of students, and do not prepare students for the real world.

What once began as a simple test administered to students yearly to measure understanding of a particular subject has, as Kohn (2000) has stated, “Mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole” (p.1). Today’s students are tested to an extent that is unparalleled in not only the history of our schools, but to the rest of the world as well. Step into any public school classroom across the United States and it will seem as if standardized testing has taken over the curriculum. Day after day teachers stress the importance of being prepared for the upcoming test. Schools spend millions of dollars purchasing the best test preparation materials, sometimes comes at the cost of other important material. Although test

“When students focus their attention on grades and how they are performing, learning may not result”-Joseph Holtgreive.

In order to graduate in 2018 and beyond, a high school student is required to take seven standardized tests, achieving a cumulative score of 18, earning a minimum of four points in math, four points in English and six points across science and social studies (Ohio Department of Education). Students, in many schools, can spend weeks, and sometimes even months preparing to take these assessments. Teachers take time out of their lesson plans to help their students by teaching to the test. Once it is time to actually begin the assessments, students will spend weeks staring at computer screens, answering question after question, and then sit around doing nothing for at least half an hour because of the required amount of time everyone has to take the test for. Once the tests are over, students go back to their lives, forgetting about them until they get the scores in the mail, or when they ultimately have to take more assessments the following year. Standardized testing has a negative impact on the students, and this poor evaluation of a student’s growth needs to be changed.

Teachers are expected to teach the students, so the test scores increase each time the test is taken. However, not every student is a great test taker, which then causes a negative reflection upon the teacher in charge of preparing the student. These results also impact the school, as they do not get funding if their students perform poorly on certain standardized tests. In school, students are taught from a young age that school should be enjoyable, they should be creative, innovative, and find a love for learning. Unfortunately, standardized tests, are not equipped to measure the above mentioned ways of learning..

The number of standardized tests that students must take throughout the school year is unreal. The Council of the Great City Schools did a study on 66 of the nation’s schools and discovered that students spend twenty to twenty-five hours per school year taking these tests. When schools are doing all of this testing, it does not leave a lot of time for teachers to teach

Tests have become the most important indication of a teacher’s success and school’s performance. As a result, teachers may feel the need to ensure that the scores stay high and continue to rise. Teachers tend to cover only what is expected to be on the

Over the years, many have debated over the fairness and reliability of standardized tests. This dispute not only impacts students, but also teachers and administrators, many of whose jobs are placed on the line when test scores come back. Some say that these tests should be done away with while others argue that they are necessary for determining knowledge gained in the classroom. Another argument for tests is that they place students that may not have the same opportunities on a level playing field. The ACT, SAT, and other similar tests are the best way to test not only content knowledge, but also students’ ability to perform under pressure, a necessary ability needed to succeed in college and the workforce.

Standardized testing creates a lot of stress on students and educators alike. Because of how much stress is put on them to prepare students for these tests, many excellent teachers quit their jobs everyday. In fact, in April, new federal data stated that 17 percent of new public school teachers leave their profession after four years due to stress and other reasons. Some teachers fail to teach students skills that go beyond the tests because they’re so pressured to get their students ready for these exams. This amount of stress can lead to feelings of negativity towards school and learning in general as well as cause negative health issues. Standardized tests places a large amount of stress on both teachers and students.

There are many things people believe they can fix in our school systems. Many topics that everyone seems to feel they can change to further our education system. From the classes we take, the requirements we need to meet, our lunch systems, the price of education, and teachers pay. Out of all those things I could write about; I choose to go with something I did not list there, high risk test-taking. another common topic in education changes. Test taking has become a necessity in every school curriculum. “Educators are under tremendous pressure to ensure that their students perform well on tests.” (Amrein-Beardsley) Also according to Laura-Lee Kearns, “Interviews with youth indicate that the unintended impact of high-stakes testing is more problematic than policy makers and educators may realize.” (Kearns) Of course there are positives and negatives to having tests that are a big part of your grade. This article though will focus on why high risk test taking is not beneficial in our education system. Also included will be my solutions to this problem.

“Our educational goal [is] the production of caring, competent, loving, lovable people” . The students found in the schools across the United State are the future of America. They are the doctors, teachers, business people, lawyers and many other roles, that will be out in the workforce in the years to come. What they learn in school will impact them immensely; it is the responsibility of a teacher to give students the best education in order to ensure the common good of the future. It is essential for students to not only learn content matter, but also the skills to enable them to participate in a democracy. Due to standardized testing, the emphasis of education has become on score and rankings rather than learning. A standardized test does not look at the whole student, the scores provided are on a very narrow aspect of education. In the classroom, there are countless ways for teachers to assess the student as a whole person not as just a score. Standardized tests scores should not be the sole criteria for determining a student’s academic achievement.

An exam that measures test taking is not an accurate representation of how well a student will do in college. William Hiss, the former dean of admissions of Bates College said, “I, frankly, was surprised to find how reliable the high school GPA was. And I thought about it a lot. And I myself think that we are looking at two four-year-long demonstrations, high school and college, of self-discipline, curiosity, intellectual drive, if you will, the ability to get your homework done on time, get your papers written (Hiss 2).” There are many

Six weeks of second semester is completed and for seniors in particular, second semester is a relief and signals an end to college applications and of high school itself. When we had started school originally as freshmen it seemed as if high school would last for so long, and time passed by very slowly. However, now it seems as if the four years has flown by and many are anxious and excited to start college. While the thought of handling more "adult" situations in which students are fully responsible for themselves is very intimidating, many are really excited to be in a new environment in which they can meet new people and have new experiences. Seniors during second semester are more relaxed because they find that there is less pressure at