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No More Standardized Testing
Many arguments have been fought over and over again, but can we really come down to one final answer? Three articles: “Intelligence Testing, Testing in School, and the case against standardized: raising the scores, ruining the schools,” all have something in common; the articles present useful information and back up why standardized is not such a good thing to begin with. Many people in the US are for standardized testing, but there are those little number of people who are against standardized testing. The three articles give meaningful argumentative points like why standardized testing is not useful under any circumstances due to many factors like how scores can be bias when graded, teachers curriculum, overwhelmed students, and how standardized testing does not prove the intelligence of what a student actually knows.
To start off, the first article, “The case against standardized testing: raising the scores, ruining the schools,” by Alfie Kohn is against and has many strong argumentative pieces. This articles goes about how standardized testing does not prove what a student actually knows. The author points out that any factors can lead to certain test results such as anxiety, technology, or just the fact that they are too hard that even teachers cannot even passed. Kohn says that filling in bubbles and the increase of anxiety has risen to a level once these students have been told that there will be funding or there will be closing down the school due to lack of test results. That right there just causes more anxiety for the students and from Alphie’s view “the less valid the scores will becomes.” The problem with standardized testing is that if adults were to sit down and take the exam with the students, they would fail it completely like a student would. Once teachers figure out what questions are being ask, they will soon respond by teaching the students that material. Once students get down that material, they will come to realize that these students are “increasing in the mathematical knowledge,” or so forth. Kohn strongly believes that there is no possible way that these students can show exactly what they are capable of doing. As far as multiple choices being a concern for Alfie Kohn, he also believes that free responses are being graded way too easily that students do not even have to make sense half the time as long as they fit the criteria that is given.
After all, if your goal was to serve up our schools to marketplace, where the point of reference is what maximizes profit rather what benefits children, it would be perfectly logical for you to administer a test that many students would fail in order to create the impression that public schools were worthless (Kohn 2).
In other words, what is all comes down to is whether testing is actually benefiting the students or are schools and public doing these things to receive money for the school to make a big impression on how well their school is like some sort of representation. Many schools do not have the things they wish they had such as new technology or better programs like clubs and such. Now do schools just want money or do they really want to help their students pass their test?
Another point to this argument was that most of these tests are shipped off to North Caroline and are given to low-paid workers to score. One of the workers that was questioned about scoring these exams gave an honest truth answer to scoring these exams and that was spending 10 or less seconds on reading the exams. This is why Kohn has a concern with standardized testing, because the scorers do not take it seriously as it seems. That scorer had also said “two hundred dollar bonus that kicked in after eight thousands paper.” If the scorers know that they receive a bonus after so many exams, why wouldn’t the scorers take an advantage of this? If so these scorers have the mentality of “correcting a lot equals more money for me,” then we have an issue with standardized testing.
Bribing and threats has also been Kohn’s concern for standardized testing. Many schools will do this so that students will receive the “best results” out there. In fact, the states schools make the test scores seem like a competition rather focusing on students and how they do individually. Some students get nervous or have that mentality of “I have to do ace this exam!” Meanwhile, the schools are proposing threats like no funding for programs, no graduating and receiving diploma (Kohn 6). Schools should not do that because what they propose just worries the students and they feel pressured and that leads to a failure as a whole result of the school.
Secondly, the article “Testing in Schools,” written by Kenneth Jost, has proposed many points on why standardized testing should not exist. This is article has a few points in common with the first article, like how the testing takes up too much instruction to teach life-long material needed to guide students in the real world. One of the critics from this articles states that “Standardized tests were never intended to measure schools’ overall performance and are not an accurate way to tell how well schools are doing,” which makes sense because some students can be very intelligent but for some reason have anxiety when taking test that can cause negative results, also other factor like the first article mentioned such as scoring, anxiety, teachers, etc. The critics also point out that the tests “hurts rather than helps classroom instruction and that the emphasis on testing distracts policymakers and the public from the real problems of American education.” This argument is so focused on standardized testing that the public does not realize that they are other problems with education that needs to fix such as teacher attrition, parental involvement, and student reading ability may hinder progress in education (Boyer 1).
There was a survey taken recently and was given the following statistic:
“7 out of 10 teachers said that instruction stresses state tests “far” or “somewhat” too much, while 66 percent said tests were forcing them to concentrate on things covered in the test to the detriment of other important topics (Jost 6).
You can tell that enforcement of learning the test material was accountable for these teachers and the whole process of testing just causes stress to students and teachers as well.
Other points that Jost had were having two pie charts reflecting upon parents and teachers response to the question titled, “Is There Too Much Testing?” For the parents, 51% said that testing was not a problem, 18% said that teachers focus more on preparing standardized testing rather than “actual learning,” and 31% said they do not know. As oppose to the teachers, 66% said that state testing is forcing the student to concentrate too much on information that will be on the test, 29% said state testing is helping the teacher to focus on what children really need to know, and 4% said that they do not know. By looking at these statistics, you can see that teachers have more of problem with test taking than parents. Why do you think that is? Possibly because teachers are the actual educators and understand their students more than what parents know about their own child.
Lastly is “Is Standardized Testing Failing Our Kid,” by Rose Garret, who takes a stand on purposing that there is no point in these kinds of tests. A similarity between the two articles: The case against standardized testing: raising the scores, ruining the school and Testing in Schools, was that all three of these articles agree that teachers are responsible for the test results. This articles states that it is not just teachers “teaching the test,” scorers or students that cause horrible results, it can be the quality of school.
Wayne Camara, Vice President of Research at The College Board, says the quality of schools affects testing, too. “Success on tests in school is highly related to the quality of education that kids get,” says Camara (Garett 2).
The quality of school is definitely an impact on how well students perform. If the school does not have the technology that is needed for students to succeed then those students are most likely not going to do so well on these exams as oppose to a more better school with new technology and tutors and what not to help them succeed, then those students are going to have an advantage when taking the standardized testing.
As people may see there are positive things and negative things that correspond to standardized testing. And many factors can cause standardized testing to have false results according to both articles. These two articles present argumentative points that decided whether standardized testing is actually a good thing or a bad thing, but perhaps it is how well the two authors present their points that will give them a favorable audience to go on their side.
1.) I believe I need a stronger thesis, can someone help me? Any suggestions will help!
2.) I'm not completely done with this paper, but I feel like my citations are not exactly correct if you see errors with citing let me know.
3.) Do I need more argumentative points?
Many arguments have been fought over and over again, but can we really come down to one final answer? Three articles: “Intelligence Testing, Testing in School, and the case against standardized: raising the scores, ruining the schools,” all have something in common; the articles present useful information and back up why standardized is not such a good thing to begin with. Many people in the US are for standardized testing, but there are those little number of people who are against standardized testing. The three articles give meaningful argumentative points like why standardized testing is not useful under any circumstances due to many factors like how scores can be bias when graded, teachers curriculum, overwhelmed students, and how standardized testing does not prove the intelligence of what a student actually knows.
To start off, the first article, “The case against standardized testing: raising the scores, ruining the schools,” by Alfie Kohn is against and has many strong argumentative pieces. This articles goes about how standardized testing does not prove what a student actually knows. The author points out that any factors can lead to certain test results such as anxiety, technology, or just the fact that they are too hard that even teachers cannot even passed. Kohn says that filling in bubbles and the increase of anxiety has risen to a level once these students have been told that there will be funding or there will be closing down the school due to lack of test results. That right there just causes more anxiety for the students and from Alphie’s view “the less valid the scores will becomes.” The problem with standardized testing is that if adults were to sit down and take the exam with the students, they would fail it completely like a student would. Once teachers figure out what questions are being ask, they will soon respond by teaching the students that material. Once students get down that material, they will come to realize that these students are “increasing in the mathematical knowledge,” or so forth. Kohn strongly believes that there is no possible way that these students can show exactly what they are capable of doing. As far as multiple choices being a concern for Alfie Kohn, he also believes that free responses are being graded way too easily that students do not even have to make sense half the time as long as they fit the criteria that is given.
After all, if your goal was to serve up our schools to marketplace, where the point of reference is what maximizes profit rather what benefits children, it would be perfectly logical for you to administer a test that many students would fail in order to create the impression that public schools were worthless (Kohn 2).
In other words, what is all comes down to is whether testing is actually benefiting the students or are schools and public doing these things to receive money for the school to make a big impression on how well their school is like some sort of representation. Many schools do not have the things they wish they had such as new technology or better programs like clubs and such. Now do schools just want money or do they really want to help their students pass their test?
Another point to this argument was that most of these tests are shipped off to North Caroline and are given to low-paid workers to score. One of the workers that was questioned about scoring these exams gave an honest truth answer to scoring these exams and that was spending 10 or less seconds on reading the exams. This is why Kohn has a concern with standardized testing, because the scorers do not take it seriously as it seems. That scorer had also said “two hundred dollar bonus that kicked in after eight thousands paper.” If the scorers know that they receive a bonus after so many exams, why wouldn’t the scorers take an advantage of this? If so these scorers have the mentality of “correcting a lot equals more money for me,” then we have an issue with standardized testing.
Bribing and threats has also been Kohn’s concern for standardized testing. Many schools will do this so that students will receive the “best results” out there. In fact, the states schools make the test scores seem like a competition rather focusing on students and how they do individually. Some students get nervous or have that mentality of “I have to do ace this exam!” Meanwhile, the schools are proposing threats like no funding for programs, no graduating and receiving diploma (Kohn 6). Schools should not do that because what they propose just worries the students and they feel pressured and that leads to a failure as a whole result of the school.
Secondly, the article “Testing in Schools,” written by Kenneth Jost, has proposed many points on why standardized testing should not exist. This is article has a few points in common with the first article, like how the testing takes up too much instruction to teach life-long material needed to guide students in the real world. One of the critics from this articles states that “Standardized tests were never intended to measure schools’ overall performance and are not an accurate way to tell how well schools are doing,” which makes sense because some students can be very intelligent but for some reason have anxiety when taking test that can cause negative results, also other factor like the first article mentioned such as scoring, anxiety, teachers, etc. The critics also point out that the tests “hurts rather than helps classroom instruction and that the emphasis on testing distracts policymakers and the public from the real problems of American education.” This argument is so focused on standardized testing that the public does not realize that they are other problems with education that needs to fix such as teacher attrition, parental involvement, and student reading ability may hinder progress in education (Boyer 1).
There was a survey taken recently and was given the following statistic:
“7 out of 10 teachers said that instruction stresses state tests “far” or “somewhat” too much, while 66 percent said tests were forcing them to concentrate on things covered in the test to the detriment of other important topics (Jost 6).
You can tell that enforcement of learning the test material was accountable for these teachers and the whole process of testing just causes stress to students and teachers as well.
Other points that Jost had were having two pie charts reflecting upon parents and teachers response to the question titled, “Is There Too Much Testing?” For the parents, 51% said that testing was not a problem, 18% said that teachers focus more on preparing standardized testing rather than “actual learning,” and 31% said they do not know. As oppose to the teachers, 66% said that state testing is forcing the student to concentrate too much on information that will be on the test, 29% said state testing is helping the teacher to focus on what children really need to know, and 4% said that they do not know. By looking at these statistics, you can see that teachers have more of problem with test taking than parents. Why do you think that is? Possibly because teachers are the actual educators and understand their students more than what parents know about their own child.
Lastly is “Is Standardized Testing Failing Our Kid,” by Rose Garret, who takes a stand on purposing that there is no point in these kinds of tests. A similarity between the two articles: The case against standardized testing: raising the scores, ruining the school and Testing in Schools, was that all three of these articles agree that teachers are responsible for the test results. This articles states that it is not just teachers “teaching the test,” scorers or students that cause horrible results, it can be the quality of school.
Wayne Camara, Vice President of Research at The College Board, says the quality of schools affects testing, too. “Success on tests in school is highly related to the quality of education that kids get,” says Camara (Garett 2).
The quality of school is definitely an impact on how well students perform. If the school does not have the technology that is needed for students to succeed then those students are most likely not going to do so well on these exams as oppose to a more better school with new technology and tutors and what not to help them succeed, then those students are going to have an advantage when taking the standardized testing.
As people may see there are positive things and negative things that correspond to standardized testing. And many factors can cause standardized testing to have false results according to both articles. These two articles present argumentative points that decided whether standardized testing is actually a good thing or a bad thing, but perhaps it is how well the two authors present their points that will give them a favorable audience to go on their side.
1.) I believe I need a stronger thesis, can someone help me? Any suggestions will help!
2.) I'm not completely done with this paper, but I feel like my citations are not exactly correct if you see errors with citing let me know.
3.) Do I need more argumentative points?
