The Test For Australian Educators

Ever since standardized testing started being used as a way to evaluate the intelligence of students and the teachers’ ability to educate, the standard of actual education has been diminished immensely. Standardized testing is used in most public and private schools to analyze students’ knowledge. It has affected the way in which students learn and has corrupted the methods teachers use to educate. In some cases, English-Learning and disabled students face discrimination from teachers since teachers have more responsibility to have a high number of passing students. Some countries around the world don’t use standardized tests to rank their students or schools and yet they have been successful. Standardized tests are not efficient on making students learn, they should not be used to evaluate students’ knowledge.

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, standardized testing has been at the center of attention in the educational system. Several schools and teachers have been forced to drill children on the information they will be tested on. Teachers are forced to demonstrate other important topics in order to teach test material. Similar to majority of tests provided in the school system, standardized test have both pros and cons. Generally speaking, standardized testing is a great way to determine a baseline for a child. As Miller (2016) indicated, tests have a multitude of benefits, which include student enthusiasm, peer learning, self-improvement and retention, transfer of learning, student self-assessment, and teacher instructional guidance. Teachers are able to use the data from the standardized tests to build an entire academic plan around the results. Additionally, students and parents are able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each child in order to determine the next steps needed to help bridge any gaps within their academic studies.

These tests will provide teachers and administrators a diagnosis of how the school is performing and in which areas the school needs to improve on. This will also inform policymakers which schools are doing well and why. Then that technique can be applied to schools in which the scores were not meeting standards. President Bush and the U.S. Congress have challenged educators to set high standards and hold students, schools and districts accountable for results. (Dept. of Ed, 2004)

‘….supporters of the test insist that it is essential for maintaining the schools' high academic standards--highlighting its objectivity, as well as its emphasis on logic and advanced abilities in math and English…’

It is about motivating the student to think and come to logical conclusions and hypothesis on their own. This being the case, the standardized tests are not conclusive and accurate of what education and learning are.

The reason for the test is to place each student in the right classes at their level. Entering classes at specified level allows a student to build on the current skills, when a student does not build up against the current skills, they mess the necessary tools to be successful in the higher level courses

The argument Jessica Lahey produced were words directly from any readers mind while deciding how one would and should prove to any audience that tests are needed in all Colorado School Districts. The removal of tests from any school district is truly devastating to Colorado’s schooling system. The knowledge of summative testing and formative testing will be presented to the audience for a better understanding. Tests are the main reason why we can see student’s true competency levels in certain subject areas. Jessica’s argument was very logical in the eyes of someone who wants growth within our multiple school districts and our world. I will produce an analysis of her critically convincing argument as to why our students need to be tested to show our rankings, and too improve the overall schooling of America’s children. In ‘Students Should Be Tested More, Not Less’ Jessica Lahey provides an extremely convincing argument that supports the increase of testing within all school districts. In this argumentative analysis of Jessica Lahey’s argument I will bring forth key points from her piece that support our extreme need for testing, I will also show readers how we are totally failing our students and their brains true potential.

Students begin standardized testing in kindergarten. Thus, immediately suggesting to children that their self-worth, intelligence, future success, and everything else depends on these numbers that they begin to acquire from before they are even able to read fluently. Throughout their entire educational careers, these students will either aim towards, and be consumed by, the idea of attaining the perfect score. In contrast, they could give up because they feel as though they will never meet the standards set for them. These standardized tests do not take into consideration non-English speakers or students with special needs. Although excessive testing may teach a child how to become a better test taker, it will in no way prepare them for a productive and successful

If we don’t do well on testing, then we’re going to lose funding, which means we’re going to lose teachers. So teachers are being pressured to teach the children to pass the test.” (Fountain).

So much emphasis is placed on standardized testing, and whether students obtain all the information they need throughout their class to do well on a test is based upon the teacher. If a teacher lacks the power to successfully get their students to absorb their curriculum, then the students may fail to do well on their tests or in the class. If the students happen to do poorly on the standardized tests, there is no way of knowing why because they do not provide any feedback on how to perform better. This makes it hard for teachers to know how and where to improve. Test scores determine teacher evaluation and salary along with whether the school is doing well as a whole. Because of this, teachers have started planning their curriculum around state tests according to a study performed by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (Evans). This is known as “teaching to the test", which means focusing on the content that will be on the test and using the format of the test as a foundation for the teacher’s curriculum. Doing this also narrows the curriculum, forcing teachers and students to concentrate on memorization of isolated facts instead of digesting them. Most of classroom time consists of either taking the tests or preparing for the tests, and this shuts out the possibility of learning anything new or significant. Whether a

What educators believe and think influences the learning of their students/children. Write an essay that agrees or disagrees with this statement.

“Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching. ”- Unknown Standardized testing is frequently thought of something that is useless and boring but in reality it is one of the most beneficial things to happen to this country’s education system. Though many may argue against this claim, their evidence does not suffice. Standardized testing helps teachers assess their students knowledge and know what she/he needs to teach them.

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

The results that a teacher’s students get on the test are also meant to reflect their ability to teach, but this isn’t always so clear cut. The tests don’t take into account the personal factors that could affect a student’s scores. A student could have personal problems at home, could be court-ordered to be in school, or just not want to try their best, and ultimately all these things will unfairly represent a teacher’s potential to teach. This is not only a misinterpretation of a person’s ability to relate information, but also an ineffective measurement of

In her article Teaching to the test: Best practice?, Lorraine Valdez Pierce makes a strong case for reevaluating our national obsession with testing. The high-stakes