Everything academic revolves around the year-end state testing to the point that other subjects are usually neglected. Reading, math and writing are the main thrusts of schools, and are obviously important. However, critics state that children are not receiving well-rounded educations because of the emphasis on these subjects
In modern society, parents and students are really worried about, and interested in, grading systems, as grades are used as critical data when students apply for colleges and companies. Recently, there has been a controversial question whether the academic scores should be determined by an effort or by an achievement. In my opinion, it’s more reasonable to consider an achievement when grading students. First of all, it’s hard to determine how hard a student works. There aren’t any objective criteria to rank students according to their efforts.
| High Stakes Testing | (Standardized Testing) | | EDL 619 Social Foundations of Education Summer 1-2011 An explanation and descriptions of “High Stakes Testing” and how what the impact is on present day education in the United States. | High Stake Testing What is “High Stakes Testing?” High-stakes test are tests with important consequences for the test taker. These achievement tests are known as "high-stakes" when results are used to make crucial educational decisions, such as grade placement, granting high-school diplomas. scholarships, or as a measure of teacher effectiveness. Failing has important disadvantages, such as being forced to take remedial classes until the test can be passed, The use and misuse of high- stakes tests are a controversial topic in public education, especially in the United States SAT’s SAT no longer stands for ‘Scholastic Aptitude Test’ which was the original name of the test.
It appears that testing is a waste of time, but in reality, it prepares students for future success. Another question that occurs is: What are students gaining from these different tests each year? Many people debate whether the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is considered to be pointless. Maybe these tests are teaching students accountability and responsibility, two vital tools for success in life. Within in the article, “No Child Left Behind: Test-Obsessed Education Won’t Move Us Ahead” the author, David Marshak, slashes the No Child Left Behind Act.
For many years, adults have send them the message success is more important than learning. A research shows that a “grading orientation” and a “learning orientation” can’t not be exist at the same time; this means if a student has a high “grading orientation” most likely that student will have a low “learning orientation” and vice versa. No contemporary researches have shown different result. “Assessment-based grading” or extrinsic motivation tends to diminish intrinsic motivation and by that Kohn means students only care whether if the materials will be on the test, but not “How do I know if that is true?”. Cheating, fear of failure are just some of the examples that existing in the graded-oriented environment.
Also, explaining that companies turned around and sell teaching materials designed to raising scores on their OWN test. The author also describes how the test disregards the students’ creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, and other valuable dispositions and attributes. The author suggests that test is not designed to meet the needs of the students; rather yet, the students must all rise to meet the same standards. As a reader, one can conclude that not all students learn the same materials, through the same techniques. Furthermore, the
More so, it is being done internally by teachers (Falk, 616). The stakes are so high they manipulate test results by keeping certain students out of the testing environment. It has been reported that kids were purposely held back so that their performance will not bring down the test scores that the more intelligent students submit. I agree with that Lindsay Jillson argues about how standardized testing has jeopardized a student’s future because of the sanctions that are given to them for being less intelligent. I just do not understand why the main focus of our education has to be all about test.
If we needed Average daily Attendance to determine what would or should be the proper funds attendance rates would lower the funds that would be allotted to my school and schools overall. We cannot control the attendance of others we can only encourage great attendance. The school districts that service and educate a large number of students are given more money because it is divided on a particular amount of money, or funds per student. In many under privileged areas they see more
In the article Stop the Madness, written by Diane Ravitch, she elaborates on the issue of exceptionally high test taking. Teachers teach towards their test and as a result, are lazy. These faculty members, especially the teachers, worry more about the final test scores their students receive than if their students are grasping and fully understanding the educational topics. This is because the test grades that the students earn is how teachers are judged and ranked in the system. Therefore, in order to achieve these ideal scores, they are using the same tests and classwork every year.
It is fair to say that one cannot gain a complete understanding of a student’s capabilities from the results of only one test (Brookhart, 2009). This is where multiple measures comes in and allows teachers to make assumptions and conclusions based on more than one test result, hence achieving a more valid and reliable conclusion on students abilities. Through multiple measures Brookhart argues that we are also able to achieve decision validity (Brookhart, 2009). This allows teachers to determine if a student is displaying difficulties in all aspects of study or in one particular area. It is not fair to conclude that because a student exhibits difficulties with one area of learning that he or she will exhibit the same difficulty in other areas, in fact a student who displays difficult writing or reading may in fact excel in other academic areas such as mathematics.