Thursday, November 1, 2007
Texas Standardized Testing is Flawed
Does Passing or failing a standardized test prove your adequacy or inadequacy of knowledge on academic standards? The state of Texas seems to think that Standardized testing is the answer for showing the progress of the students and their ability to comprehend the curriculum set by Texas standards. Emphasizing the importance on scoring well enough to pass begins when the student enters the third grade. Teachers are spending more of their time concentrated on how to get their students to pass the tests rather then teaching about history, current events, or even how to structure a well written paper. Many people believe that the outcome of students scores are a direct results on how well the students were taught by their teachers, adding more pressure on the students and teachers. Standardized testing can also make the students feel as though there’s something wrong with them, or that they are not as smart as their fellow classmate if they do not pass. The test fails to measure the different learning styles that students have along with the possible poor test taking skills. Some children take up to 4 hours on the rather new TAKS (Texas assessment of knowledge and skills) test, far exceeding the attention span of any human being. Basically, standardized testing is thought by many people to be unfair and an improper way of measuring an array of student’s knowledge on different subjects, and now it’s required that you obtain a passing score in order to graduate from high school. Hopefully the state of Texas is making steps in improving this flawed system of testing the knowledge of students across Texas
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
After sitting here reading an article about Texas Standardized Testing is Flawed from 'TEX-as we might not know." I'm kinda agree with it because I do support standardized testing. Qualified teachers as defined by NCLB should concentrate in delivering their subject materials to full extent that would enable students to understand the subject materials thoroughly. And I also believe testing should cover all areas of study. I think teachers must structure the content of their lesson plans to engage students in learning the curriculum that both teaches the course but also prepares the student to be able to relate that knowledge in test form. That is what a good teacher does. A great teacher also gets the students to all that and excel beyond the lesson plan. I do understand that some students will be nervous during the test but this is normal in student's life. Testing is a measure of success and failure, no one will succeed by chance and no one will fail by chance. but some says Standardized testing sets up lucky schools for a few more bucks. For students, it can possibly set them up for failure more so than success.
Reading this post about standardized testing really got me and I totally agree because teachers these days basically all they do is get the students ready for the test. I believe that teachers need to structure their lesson plan to teach the curriculum and at the same time prepare the student to put all of that knowledge in pencil when it comes down to testing. The state of Texas seems to think that Standardized testing is the answer for showing the progress of the students and their ability to comprehend the curriculum set by Texas standards. The problem with this is that some students don’t really have good test taking skills and end up doing bad even though they really knew the subject. I also agree that standardized testing can make a student feel that he is not measuring up to the standards and that they are not as smart as their fellow classmate because they failed. I know this for a fact because I happen to be this student in middle school but still passed that grade because of practice. Basically standardized testing is to me is not really the answer on measuring a student’s knowledge on different subjects, but its required you pass this test before you can move on to the next grade or even get your diploma. Texas needs to develop or improve this system of testing a student’s knowledge on various subjects.
Post a Comment