The Effects of Standardized Tests on Education

order pop outpourings experience been debated and argued for as many years as they have existed. It is worthwhile to look at whatsoever of the arguments for both sides and find out if there mint be virtually middle ground. Two principal(prenominal) factors of regulate tests atomic number 18 the way the tests ar administered and how the results atomic number 18 handled. These two issues whitethorn be more(prenominal) valu competent than the tests themselves. on that post must be ways to have ac pressability in closely areas of society. In trains, we involve to know if teachers are teaching and if assimilators are learning.There has to be some way to judge whether the system is working. order tests chamberpot show students strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, teachers then give strategies to address the needs of the student that the test has outlined. These tests can facilitate predict selection at college, apology for scholarships, and selection for employme nt. They can document achievement, both for the student and the teacher. The fundamental ideas behind the construction and exercising of tests are non beyond our understanding.Says Andrew J. Strenio Jr.These tests own that the examinee does have the requisite skills and competencies needed to alumna from high civilize programs, practice in an production line or profession, or nail elevated stead within a profession. (Defending Standardized interrogatory Phelps, Ric grueling. We could non function in society without some basic standards and these standards need to be uniform throughout our society. Chauncey and Dobbin write in their book examen Its Place in Education nowadaysEvery cultivate and almost every teacher uses a test at some point in the sue of planning instruction that pull up s find outs fit the student and his capacities.Standardized testing is al cardinal a larger scale for comparison. It offers feedback to the student and the nurture system active wher e achievement is in plastered areas. But it should non be the only criteria for what we take success. There is a great deal of condemnation of similar tests. Making test piles humans is a way to see them as indicators of school quality. This has increased their value 100% exclusively not in a particularly good way. Officials use an assortment of bribes and threats to coerce everyone into concentrating on test results.If the scores are high, the bribes may include bonuses for teachers and schools. Students may receive food, tickets to theme parks or sporting events, exemptions from in-class nett exams, and even scholarships. The threats include loss of funding or accreditation for schools, while students may be held back a year or denied a high school diploma if they come int test well, disregardless of their over-all academic record. All together, these tactics are know as high stakes testing.There may not be data on this, but Alfie Kohn states the people who work most cl osely with kids are the most likely to understand the limits of standardized tests. He says that support for testing seems to grow as you break down away from the students, going from teacher to principal to rally office administrator to school board phallus to state board member, state legislator, and governor. 3 Standardized Minds by Peter Sacks talks about the unquestioned position of standardized testing which he hurt an unhealthy and enduring obsession.He as well as writes about the cost of all this testing. The amount Americans overlook taking tests, preparing for tests, scoring tests, and data track magnificently voluptuous testing programs in schools, colleges and the workplace is stunning, probably running in the billions of dollars each year. It is possible that Americans may be taking as many as 600 billion standardized tests annually, or more than two tests per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. immoderate demands of higher scores fro m schools has many negative results. Alfie Kohn says Teachers are beginning to tire of the pressure, the skewed priorities, and the disrespectful sermon as they are forced to enforce a curriculum largely determined by test manufacturers or state legislators. A militaryile environment develops as teachers feel the need to prove that get-go scores were not their fault. An unhealthy competition is passel up between teachers.High-stakes testing has led to widespread cheating. Recently, capital of Georgia schools cheating scandal has been front summon news. An bind in Substance News by George N. Schmidt on Dec. 26, 2010 details the depth and breadth of the CRCT scandal. The article is part of series that has examined the statistically improbable gains in test scores in Atlanta schools and how school district officials responded to them. The money spent on this investigating could probably build a new school.The vista of higher scores means teachers are more likely to teach t o the test and become recital sergeants. Other things like fine arts illuminate to the wayside as math and science are emphasized. From the book Standardized Minds Researchers have found systematically that one of the most damaging effects of large-scale, big-stakes standardized testing in schools has been to (1) oversimplify whats taught in school and (2) to severely constrict what is taught to only those items most likely to appear on an upcoming standardized test. There is blame and consequence to cheating, whether it is outright erasures on tests or days of teaching the test. But it should help us to rethink the pressures on high-stakes testing. Maybe the Atlanta cheating scandal can show us that our response to the test score is way out of line. School districts, schools, teachers, and students should not have to be tried and true under such extreme pressure. This threatening automatic teller machine checks cheating a likelihood. Grades and test scores dont tell us what w e really necessitate to know about somebody.The Case Against Standardized scrutiny includes a list offered by educator batting order Ayers Standardized tests cant measure initiative, creativity, imagination, abstract thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and functions, the least provoke and least significant aspects of learning. Maybe it is not a bad test but how the results are handled.Daniel Koretz in Measuring Up talks about the limits of test scores. He says What education leaders wish is a fair, straight-forward measure of school performance, to be able to monitor schools and hold them accountable. The problem is that we tend to overrating what tests can do. Tests are not goaled to summate all that students and schools can do. By the analogous token Andrew Strenio states that Standardize d tests convey an illusion of very much greater precision than they are actually open(a) of achieving.Learning is a process and process is be as movement, a series of actions or changes. That is what makes it hard to precisely measure. So maybe we should not gloaming so much on standardized tests. Instead, make them a component of the over-all measurement of quality achievement. Valerie Janesick states in The Assessment Debate that Learning does not take place by sheer dumb mishap or luck . It takes place by design. She makes reference to Grant Wiggins saying the goal is not instant reform or instant versed but rather a continuous process that results in understanding.Priscilla Vail states Above all, parents, students, and educators must ring that a test only shows what one somebody did on one exercise on one day. A standardized test score is not a license to live or a measure of deserving oxygen and space on our planet. The opportunity to demonstrate what you know can too be done with portfolio assessment, group or individualistic projects, and take-home exams. We should strive to create schools that help students flourish. We should besides strive to hire administrators who can develop and implement new criteria for measuring achievement that could go on with the standardized tests.