Standardized testing vs. Non-standardized testing Standardized testing is a universal term; commonly used in education throughout the world. Our generation has been said to be the most tested in history. Each year the government spends millions on these standard given tests, determining whether or not each student measures up to par in the standards they have been presented with. They have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to chart the success of one school is to follow these results. Rating education, strictly by the numbers is the wrong way to measure a process as complex as learning; therefore, standardized tests are unfair measurements of student’s intelligence and academic performance and should be reconsidered.
Student Motivation Virtually 30 states now assess schools primarily or solely on the basis of student test scores. A similar number unequivocally tie student promotions or graduations according to the performance on state or district tests. When interviewed about high-stake testing several teachers perceptions were obvious of how classrooms have changed since the implementation of high stakes tests. They established that teachers believed that standardized tests noticeably cause younger students to experience, stress, fatigue, misbehavior and emotional distress. Teachers have reported that student morale had deteriorated and none reported that it had improved since high stakes have been implemented in schools.
IB PSYCHOLOGY A study of the role of punishment on mathematical performance of adolescents. (An Experiment Not to be replicated!) Professor Psycho wants to understand how punishment can improve student performance on math tests. He tells his psychology class they must be the subjects in his experiment or they will suffer a grade penalty in their next test. He assigns 10 students with the best GPA to the PUNISHMENT GROUP and 10 students with the lowest GPA to the WITHOUT PUNISHMENT GROUP.
The problem with standardized testing is that it does not agree well with education. Even Alfred Binet, originator of the intelligence test said himself, “It should not be used to prop up a theory of intelligence” and that it was “nothing more than a practical device” (“Intelligence Testing”) This includes motivation, teaching, and evaluation. The most obvious forms of motivation, such as bribes and threats, are ultimately more harmful than helpful. Some schools use diplomas as both a way of bribing and of threatening students to do well on standardized tests. Not only is this unfair, but it is destructive.
There is also an increase with the shortage of teachers because the NCLB Act requires a certain level of teachers all of them must take many test themselves and that determines if they are able to continue to teach. Schools are so adamant to just “pass the test” that they forget the true focus dealing with education and only focus on training students to take a test. Lastly this test labels the students to be all the same. Each student is accountable for one another’s scores no matter who’s a good
It also shows up as a poor attitude about quality. Quality is viewed as an add on, inspected in, and is an impedance to doing their job. Proper training is not viewed as a prerequisite to start a job which leads to unqualified people performing processes. This fundamental problem also creates an entire host of other problems. These problems, as stated in the case study, include: lack of purchasing, design, and testing processes, inspections that are after the fact with out in-process controls or feed back loops.
Premises: 1) Standardized test are not standardized. 2) The consequences for schools not making the grade are very unforgiving. 3) They only measure a small portion of a student’s abilities. Standardized Tests Negative or Positive In the beginning, the intent of standardized testing was to be helpful by producing information that teachers and school systems could use to improve the educational structure for students. Although standardized tests have been around for a very long time, there is still a mountain of controversy surrounding, if they are helpful or a hindrance to our elementary and secondary school students.
It is known that standardized tests are not perfect indicators of knowledge for all students and can have a measurement error. Teachers using grades as a criterion for identifying underachievers based on the first description also ignores many problems found in both school curriculums and classrooms. For example, there are many assignments given in a class that do not accurately judge whether a student has mastered the assigned curriculum. Another issue with using classrooms grades as a guide for determining underachievement is that many gifted students will never be discovered if the underachievement begins at an early age in school. The second description above mentioning predicted achievement and actual achievement is a difficult definition to use, though it may be very accurate given enough data.
Academic dishonesty occurs in many different forms such as sharing answers, plagiarizing or copying homework; sadly, cheating happens daily in most educational intuitions today. Students cheat because of the various academic pressures they have, and simply stated it's the easy way out, but this can later affect a student's academic and professional career. Today's society values "good grades more than knowledge"(Kennedy, 2012), this idea further burdens students with more academic pressures than what already exists which encourages them to cheat and manipulate their knowledge in order to receive better grades. It is normal for a child's parents to expect good grades from their children, but some parents do not realize the overwhelming pressures that lie on a student's shoulder to achieve a grade of excellence. A "C" letter grade represents satisfactory achievement and should not be looked down upon.
In fact, most students bring home an average of three or more hours of homework that has to be completed for the next day. Even parents would agree that the work pupils are assigned in the 21st Century is highly overwhelming and . It is extremely inappropriate to overload students with homework after a full day of school, because this leads children to stress and depression, it is a burden on parents and it leads to family conflict. When the classes are coming to an end and teachers announce the homework requirements, they believe that this work stuck behind more books and writing after school is over, will further their education. Piling on the homework will not help the students advance in school.