State Mandated Testing

Grant Wiggin’s article, “Why We Should Stop Bashing State Tests” offers an extensive look into state testing and how we need to teach a greater understanding, how it would improve test scores miraculously in addition to not threaten them in any way. Wiggin’s writes this article from a perspective that says he cares about what students need to learn not only to pass these tests, nevertheless also to present them the necessary skills in life to succeed. “Standardized tests can give us surprisingly valuable and counterintuitive insights into what students are not learning.” He communicates an understanding into the world of teachers being reviewed for even thinking of looking at the tests before

State-mandated standardized testing has lately become a monster to be feared by students from the beginning of their school career. According to well respected educational author Alfie Kohn, “[…] Most of today’s discourse about education has been reduced to a crude series of monosyllables: Test scores are too low. Make them go up” (Kohn 1). Why all the testing? Some is to meet the federal government requirements, some to meet state requirements, some for the district and some for the school, and still more tests are given simply to help students prepare for the ones already mentioned. So much testing has reduced time for instructors to actually teach. In addition, many of the tests neglect to cover all important material,

If some people get out of state testing,then everyone else shouldn't take it. First, some students don’t even take state tests. So it isn't fair for the people who do take it. Students spend a week doing state testing, while all the other people get to get out of it, and do something else. Next, if students are gonna take state testing, all students have to do it and not just get out of it. The only people who should get out of state testing are the students who don't speak english fluently. The students who get out of taking the state tests probably do something that has nothing to do with state testing. That shows that if students should not get out of state testing if they are gonna have state tests. (http://worklife.columbia.edu/files_worklife/public/Pros_and_Cons_of_Standardized_Testing_1.pdf)

The first statewide education system was built in 1837 by Horace Mann. His beliefs behind creating a system through standardized testing was to create a purposeful lasting common-school movement for professional teachers to educate the youth in creating social efficacy, civic virtue, and character. Today, students repress the idea of tests and idolize these exams as simple memory tests instead of knowledge/skill based tests. The blame and pent up anger students rile with teachers about exams breaks the whole purpose of learning. Today, students look at tests and exams as a point-based competition. Whoever gets the highest score is presumably deemed the smartest in the class. Students might know nothing about the info and how to apply their knowledge to real life applications but

When a student has the ability to pursue classes that interest them, combined with teachers that enable the students to understand more and push themselves, the students will be more inclined to continue to go to school and find a topic that they are passionate about, that they would then hopefully be able to make a career out of. Students that are surrounded by negativity and a setting that distracts from the importance of learning and pressures the student is one that ultimately reduces the output of education that the politicians are so concerned with. Students can tell when they are being taught for a test. In NJ, all the way from the NJASK through PARCC testing through the SAT/ACT, it is obvious that there is an underlying issue in the education system. From 3rd Grade everything becomes a means to an end. What happens, though, if what a student is capable of and what they are good at is not on a test? Those students can be left behind or thought lesser of. Frustration sets in when a person becomes bored as well as when they are not properly understanding the material. Albert Einstein stated that “If you judge a fish based on how well it climbs a tree it will always feel stupid.” Standardized testing is good for creating a basis of knowledge and a starting point for the school system to make sure that each citizen can have a basic level of understanding, but there are many people that are not wired for standardized testing and traditional education. So many people have so many different skill sets, innate and developed. Those that can paint and have a vision like Picasso may not show this on their testing. This is the same as how those that are taking high level calculus and then the math section of the SAT. The questions are not the same. The thinking is meant to be misleading. This does not provide a fair

There is this idea of how if the teacher’s students do great on the test it means that they are great teachers, which is not necessarily the case. Columbia University states, “Standardized testing causes many teachers to only “teach to the tests,”. This practice can hinder a student’s overall learning potential. With the stakes getting higher and higher for teachers, this practice will only continue to increase. The sad reality is that it fosters an atmosphere that is boring and lacks creativeness. Teachers have such pressure to get their students ready for these exams that they neglect to teach students skills that go beyond the tests.” With the lack of teachers actually using their skills to teach the curriculum and the only thing they teach is how to take tests, school will not be where students would want to learn, and they will eventually drop out in the future. Also teaching tests will not help students in life in any way, especially without the teacher and student

Why use a test that is doing no good? There is no need to use these high stakes test that could hinder a student's future. Doesn't we want students to pass and live a successful life? The use of other ways including inspections, portfolio-based assessments, and even sampling would not just benefit students and teachers but also the state because they would receive more accurate data that would benefit them rather than the state test. Clearly state testing should be a thing of the past because it does not adequately measure student skill, does not work with students with a learning disability, it takes chunks of time out of classroom learning, and it ultimately affects the state budget. Evidently state testing is not a good way to test students because it determines decisions that end up reflecting on students educational

Students often feel the stress that comes from standardized testing. Often times, parents feel the stress of standardized testing as well. A study conducted by Osburn, Stegman, Stuitt, and Ritter of the University of Arkansas, found that some parents feel pressure to help their child score well on the standardized tests. (p. 85, 2004) Although this study showed that the majority of parent felt little pressure to help their children pass standardized tests, it is noted that this study was conducted within a high-performing district and that parents from a low performing district may feel differently. (Osburn et al, p. 88, 2004) Students are feeling more pressure to pass the standardized tests as a result of the increased emphasis that is placed on them to ensure academic success. One of the ways the standardized testing is effecting students is by having an excessive amount of time spent in test preparation. As stated before, teachers were spending a large percentage of their day teaching to test. During this time, students are becoming increasingly bored and feeling burnout. (Blazer, p. 3, 2011) According to Blazer (2011), “Major research has stated that high-stakes decisions should not be made on the basis of a single test score because a test only provides a “snapshot” of student achievement and ay not accurately reflect an entire year’s worth of student progress and achievement.” (p. 5) Many educators feel that standardized tests to not accurately measure students’

A man named Ken Robinson once stated that “Now the problem with standardized tests is that it’s based on the mistake that we can simply scale up the education of children like you would scale up making a carburators. We can’t because human beings are very different from motorcars, they have feelings about what they do and motivations in doing it or not.” Yes with this statement is true human beings are mechanical machines they can’t be programed to do what you want them to do they have a mind of their own on what they want to do. With state test they a negative impact on whether students have a choice in the matter which in this case they don’t have one . Passing state tests should not be required to graduate because there would be higher

One problem associated with standardized testing involves teachers “teaching to the test (Standardized Tests).” Nowadays, standardized testing is sometimes seen as a reflection of a teacher’s teaching capabilities. This creates a problem for teachers when their salary or job security is potentially tied to their students’ test scores. Even entire schools can lose funding if their students are not testing high enough or making progress. On the student side, teachers teaching to the test can mean a lot of monotonous drilling and focus on nothing other than what they will be tested on. All of this time spent drilling pushes aside any other potential learning strategies while leaving little room for creativity. When students are not able to spread their wings and express their creativity, both dissent and originality are definitely smothered. In his essay, Gatto claims that both the students and teachers are bored in the classroom (Gatto 608). I believe that this “teaching to the test” way of doing things can be to blame for this dissatisfaction among the public school

Ever since elementary school we have had to take tests. Most of these tests were simple and only had to do with one subject. Other tests are rather large and consist of multiple subject and there is alloted time to take these tests. These tests are standard tests that are mandatory for everyone in school to take. The purpose of the tests is to measure how well your education is going. Since you take them year after year you can see how you are progressing in your intelligence. The only problem is that there is an enormous amount of weight placed on doing well on these tests. Therefore classes give tests with similar format and questions. Students are also taught to be good test takers. With all this testing there can be unnecessary stress put on students and teachers out of fear of doing poorly. Standardized testing, while a good measurement of learning, often puts more stress on students than necessary.

In conclusion State Tests are not needed in our schools. They have too many problems. From condensing time and curriculum, to stressing students, to testing trouble, the State Tests do not do enough for the school to outweigh the

The big picture here is that laws should be enforced to reduce the number of mandated standardized tests for students to ensure the mental health of students, as well as ensure the most accurate results for parents and teachers. There are several ways to reduce these assessments that state governments have not achieved yet, such as eliminating high school graduation exams. Even if the number is reduced by just ten exams, the immense amount of pressure and stress that is laid upon students will decrease dramatically. According to a statement made by the Washington Post, research has shown in the past that these tests have caused great individual and social harm without providing many benefits (Efforts). Research has also proven opting out of standardized assessments has led to an overall decrease in these mandated exams. As Valerie Strauss says in a Washington Post article, “new policies in Idaho and North Dakota brought to ten the number of states that allow parents to opt their children out of some or all exams”. As of the year of 2017, the proposal is only at a twenty percent refusal rate and may have a great chance in contributing to the solution of this issue (Efforts). Limiting the amount of time spent on state or district testing can substantially provide a solution to this issue. Many states have implemented new and innovative methods to replace the countless hours of standardized testing. For example, New Mexico has recently passed and enforced a law stating that “the requirement that ninth- and tenth-graders take at least three periodic tests each year in reading, English and Math”, will be eliminated. Efforts in West Virginia have been made as well by eliminating English language arts and Mathematics exams in ninth and tenth grade

This is because it requires states to administer a standardized test to show if the state are meeting educational standards.This is affecting the student body, because teachers are teaching for the test, not the subject they're meant to

The “No Child Left Behind” era was the major start to the government taking control of the education of students and “holding schools accountable for the academic performance of students”(NCLB). The government requires state testing for students in grades 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12 to show if students are meeting grade level requirements. Often this has negative consequences, because teachers will often focus on teaching the requirements needed for state testing and many core elements are not taught. With these tests not promoting any knowledge or skill, how can the school think students will seek a higher education? These standardized test are biased with the state requiring reports for, “specific student subgroups, including low-income students, students with disabilities, English language learners, and major racial and ethnic groups to be individually profiled based on their test scores” (NCLB). This era continued for over