Kylie Masshardt Essays (1647 words) - Education, Free Essays

Kylie Masshardt Essays (1647 words) - Education, Free Essays Kylie Masshardt Period 5 Mrs. Stephens 22 February 2017 How Standard is Standardized Testing Standardized testing costs billions of dollars a year while inaccurately measuring students' performance based on unfair and biased standards; This has not only caused the value of American education to decrease, but also cause the rise of the "creativity crisis" in the uprising American population. Although standardized testing allows students from across the country to be equally evaluated, many studies and test have proven that student's health, the value of teachers, as well as the student's future have been affected by these costly tests. All standardized tests are playing with what the creators of the test think is a "standard" and testing all students across America with the exact same questions. As standardized test become more prominent in the American school systems, the lack of individuality and creativity of students increases, "A 2010 college of William Mary study found Americans' scores on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking have been dropping since 1990[] the blame [is] on the increase in standardized testing" (standardizedtests.procon.org). This is only one affect standardized tests have had on student's future. Furthermore, an excessive amount of testing may teach children to be good at taking tests, but does not prepare them for productive adult lives. Time spent on teaching students "proper" test taking strategies, could be better well spent by teaching students the importance of voting, how to do taxes, as well as how to properly manage money; All things that will prepare Americas future generations to be well-rounded citizens. An article on the pros and cons of standardized testing states," Standardized testing has not improved student achievement" (standar dizedtests.procon.org). In 2002, after the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was passed, the US slipped from 18th in the world on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009(standerdizedtests.procon.org). Again, proving that not only are these standardized tests failing to prepare students for the future, but also showing no improvement amongst the students' scores. Ultimately, there has been no evidence to prove that test incentive programs are working on benefiting students, their future, or education in general. The billion-dollar testing industry is notorious for making costly and time-consuming scoring errors, costing hard-working Americans billions of dollars in tax payer money. An article on standardized testing states, " NCS Pearson, which has a 254 million dollar contract to administer Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test, delivered the 2010 results more than a month late" (standardizedtests.procon.org). Rather than spending the billions of dollars on ensuring students a fair and equal opportunity to have a valued education, billions of dollars are wasted on fixing the errors of companies such as Pearson. In 2009, Obama's Race To the Top initiative was signed into law, inviting states to compete for 4.35 billion dollars in extra funding based on the strength of their students test scores. This competition led teachers to help students, as young as 3rd grade, to cheat on these tests in order to receive this extra funding, " [] had students whose test papers showed high number of wron g-to-right ratios" ( Background of the issue, James Wallan). Teachers act as model for their students, and helping their students cheat to receive this extra funding is teaching young kids bad habits. In conclusion, each year billions of dollars are wasted on correcting the mistakes of large corporate companies when grading the standardized test, and when incentives are instilled, teachers are teaching their students that it is okay to cheat. Teachers prepare their students for these standardized tests all year long, and as the testing day approaches students become frantic and begin to develop testing anxiety. Around 16-20% of students, in a 2016 study, reported that they had high-testing anxiety before their tests, while 18% stated they had moderate-testing anxiety, making this the most prevalent scholastic impairment in the American education system. Not only are standardized tests causing unnecessary anxiety on students as young as third grade, but also robbing children of their childhood. Super-attendants, principals, and teachers have become fixated on preparing their students to ace these tests, they have begun replacing recess time with preparation activities for these tests. Recess plays a large role in the early development of