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The Picture Of A Child Or Teenager 's School Life

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The idealized picture of a child or teenager’s school life is one of learning and social activities. The years of school, Kindergarten through twelfth grade are characterized by growth in knowledge and interests. Many students discover subjects that fire the imagination, perhaps the beauty of the written word, maybe the intricate patterns of mathematics, or the stories of history and science. As romanticized as this picture is, it is increasingly more mythical in the landscape of the Untitled States Education System.
The trend of high stakes standardized testing has narrowed the focus of the curriculum, makes the classroom a high pressure environment more conducive to anxiety for both students and teachers, rather than learning. My hope is that through Marylhurst Master’s of Education program I can join with other educators to make the classroom a place where a test score is less important than the education of the whole child.
In recent years, the test scores of school age kids in this country have fallen. The response to this problem has been, extreme. A test is something that measures how much of the subject the student understands. Individual scores gives the teacher a general idea of what a student is grasping and what they might need help with. Classroom averages may give the teacher an idea of how to adjust their teaching technique. The scores are representative of the student’s progress, they are not the end goal of learning. Yet high stakes testing makes a test

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