Pelayo M. Martinez Rodriguez Miaja
Karen Vatz
EN101
November 17, 2020
Helpful or Detrimental
Schools have used standardized tests to judge students based on whether they will be successful in life. (Scogin et al., 39). There has been great debate on whether the federal government should mandate annual standardized testing of all students. Millions of students in the United States in the springtime are prepared for just one yearly standardized test (Scogin et al., 47). The topic has been a controversial topic among students, teachers, parents, and even voters. Notably, standardized tests are federally mandated, timed tests with one set of multiple-choice questions that fit all, and they are designed to measure the student’s performance in subjects like reading and math. The federal Department of education, since 1969, adopted the National Assessment of educational progress to monitor and test the student of America on their academic achievement (Rezai-Rashti et al., 2). However, it was not until the Clinton administration in 1994 proposed that every federal state received money for testing third through annual eighth-graders on math and reading. Every two years, the No child left Behind Act, all federal states must test fourth and eighth-graders in math and reading. In light of the federal government’s annual standardized testing, the paper will focus on an overview of standardized tests and look into the valid argument of both sides of standardized testing in education.
The questions for standardized testing are developed by a list of twenty sixty elected to a governing board of education secretary in the United States of America. The governing board includes a fourth-grade teacher, a middle school teacher, a senator from Texas, a CEO and principal from chartered schools, a Catholic sister, a museum development consultant, and a representative of small business owners (Bach 18). In the cases of test for states, private companies such as McGraw- Hill usually design the test questions. The NCLB, which is responsible for accounting for how schools facilitate kids’ achievement, and learning gets the state scores they are further separated. The scores are separated based on gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of students. The various schools determine how schools are wedged by their scores, although they are not commonly impacted directly (Rezai-Rashti et al., 12). Notably, some must pass the state’s assessment to graduate from high schools, while others use the standardized test to grade students. Some teachers in several states have been fired because of the student score, although not all states (Cai 34).
The pros of standardized argue that accountability is one of the robust cases for upholding the test. They enable educators and schools to be held accountable because the test scores are on the public records ad for schools that underperform, there are serious consequences (Edriss et al., 1). Adequate yearly progress is required from the state’s schools upon failure to do they take specific steps. They include free tutorials and supplemental education services for those who miss the annual yearly progress for the third time. Also, for those who miss for the third time, the schools might face whole replacement and extend the amount in class to introduce the new curriculum. Standardized testing has enabled measurable analytics. Comparison of different federal states has been possible, and other schools’ performance has been examined using standardized testing. There is a standard uniform structure that teachers and student works towards as established in the test. Standardized tests provide objectivity. For instance, computers are used to test the score, ensuring no students’ little interest. Arguably, the data obtained from the standardized setting procedure can aid in organizing socioeconomic mic status, special needs among children, and ethnicity (Edriss et al., 3). Therefore these data can be used to provide remarkable insights on the strength of schools and shortcomings, which can be used to develop programs to address their needs across the education sector.
Critics of standardized testing argue that the test does not accurately represent the ability of students abilities. The amount of time invested by the student as they prepare for standardized tests puts them under pressure, and therefore, they lack reliability (Edriss et al., 2). Interestingly, students must showcase their abilities in a short test lasting for three hours and fifty minutes. Some of the critical aspects that students should exhibit, including creativity, resilience, leadership, and critical thinking, cannot be achieved in standardized testing. Some of these aspects are not applied, yet they are the essential determinant of progress. Besides, standardized tests promote inequality in that students from areas of high socioeconomic status have a better chance of doing well compared to students from low-income families. These students from high-income families usually prepare for the test expensively, which may boost their scores, and this benefit from low socioeconomic status does not have this advantage. Standardized tests have been politicized in that public, and chartered schools are competing for funds. Politicians have used them to advance their political agendas (Edriss et al., 3).
In conclusion, the federal government should mandate annual standardized testing for all students will last for several years as long as the test exists. Arguably, the pros of standardized testing have valid arguments, especially on measuring schools’ accountability and the progress of students. On the other side, the pros argue thstudents’the test accurately represents students’ ability based on the nature they are tested. However, until alternative legislation that is achievable and affordable across education is enacted, standardized testing will remain a normal mandate for students in America in the federal states.
Works Cited
Bach, Amy J. “High-Stakes, Standardized Testing and Emergent Bilingual Students in Texas.” Texas Journal of Literacy Education 8.1 (2020): 18-37.
Cai, Li. “Standardized Testing in College Admissions: Observations and Reflections.” Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 39.3 (2020): 34-36.
Edriss, Rabih, and Matthew James Etchells. “The Case for and Against Standardized Testing.” Electronic International Journal of Education, Arts, and Science (EIJEAS) 2.4 (2016): 1-7
Rezai-Rashti, Goli M., and Bob Lingard. “Test-based accountability, standardized testing and minority/racialized students’ perspectives in urban schools in Canada and Australia.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (2020): 1-16.
Scogin, Stephen C., et al. “Learning by experience in a standardized testing culture: Investigation of a middle school experiential learning program.” Journal of Experiential Education 40.1 (2017): 39-57.