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
Roxana Useda ENC 1101 Professor Cash November 30, 2012 Why Trust the FCAT? Have you ever felt when taking the FCAT you are wasting your time? Over the years students have been required to take a test that will evaluate them on how well they do. The FCAT is given to obtain an insight on how much students are learning on three main subjects, science, reading, and math every year. Despite the benefits teachers and schools obtain, standardized testing like the FCAT is not effective in evaluating student’s performance because not all students learn at the same level, they fall under pressure, and they are being taught just for the test which prevents from learning skills that are yet to be learned.
People in poorer communities tend to face harder obstacles like a bad home life, hard economic times, and influences that push dropping out of school. These students also have to deal with old, out-of-date school supplies like textbooks-even their teachers tend to not be as qualified as teachers in wealthier school districts. Furthermore, due to standardized testing, teachers in these poorer school districts tend to teach to the test by teaching with the drill-and-kill method where kids are being taught by memorizing certain multiple choice questions and answers (Neill 29-35). Surprisingly, high-stakes test like promotion tests are the main contributors to retention of students- most of which have learning disabilities. Retention, though, has proved to not help students academically.
I don’t understand why the information in some classes is more educational than others, when we should all be learning the same stuff. Many people argue that money shouldn’t matter, but money does determine what kind of teachers and supplies there are within a school. A prime example that can be a problem is there may be a class where the teacher knows how to teach the information that the students need to know, but there are no books for the students. Many school districts are participating in this case in order to help change how the distribution of wealth happens within the state. Every district should receive a certain amount of money and supplies in order for every school to give every student in the state of Texas an equal opportunity towards a successful future.
Standardized Test Students of all ages are getting their number-two pencils sharpened and finest energy drinks ready in order to stay alert and prepared for all the standardized tests they will soon be encountering. For the last 50 years, standardized tests have been a way to measure students academic knowledge. But are standardized tests a proper tool for measuring student readiness? Standardized test are a problem because there are so many different factors that determines how well a student does on the test. Passing a standardized test is a skill that can be taught, but does not truly measure what a student has learned in the classroom; therefore standardized tests should not be used as a tool to measure students knowledge because students have more to offer than just filling in bubbles.
Who gained from this was our K-12 reform programs (Department. of Education, 2012). If this was so, then why are most of our programs being shut down? It seems like we do not get the full story of what is going on with the program budget and were is all of the money going. They are always raising college tuition to help pay for different programs but, it seems that they are not focusing on the programs for the diverse students that are here in the United States.
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.
Although they are taught to the test, these students have no special modifications while taking the test, which causes numbers to drop on the Adequate Yearly Progress report. Although supports of No Child Left Behind credit the policy for exposing test-score gaps among student groups, they also acknowledge its mechanism for labeling schools that didn't make progress is too broad, its mandated tutoring remedies rarely boost student achievement and the 2014 goal that 100 percent of U.S. students be deemed "proficient" in science and math is unrealistic (Resomvits, J.,
What types of checks and balances are in place that can detect such problems? The Institute for Educational Sciences states that 13% of youth between the ages of 3 – 21 have learning disabilities. Anthea Lipsett of The Guardian writes, “Teacher training providers rely too heavily on schools to train teachers, Ofsted found. But less than half of the schools the inspectorate surveyed provide new trainees with a good induction into teaching pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD). Instead, inductions often focus on the priorities of an individual school so that teachers gain experience in the areas of specific concern to their workplace, but not wide enough coverage of learning difficulties to win qualified teacher status, the report warned.
With so many public schools reporting failing scores each year, it is no wonder why so many parents opt to remove their children from the regular public school system and place them in public schools. However, as appealing as charter schools may seem, they are not always the best solution. Charter school systems have caused harm to public school systems in that they provide some students with an unfair advantage over others, compete with local school districts for federal and state funds, and offer little to no accountability.