Thursday, October 13, 2011

Standardized Testing

From the beginning of every students' education, they are forced to take standardize tests. You begin taking SCA (Short Cycle Assessment Test) as soon as the student is enrolled to school, which monitors the student's education level from kindergarten until tenth grade. Starting in tenth grade, students begin their OGT (Ohio Graduation Test). The student has multiple tries in order to pass this test. If the student does not pass this test by graduation, they are unable to graduate with their class. To attend college, you need to meet a certain score in either the SAT or ACT, just to be accepted. Once you get accepted to college and wish to receive a degree in education, you are now again force to take three more standardize tests, Praxis I, Praxis II, and Praxis III.

I believe standardize testing does nothing for the students. Yes we are always testing them to see if they improved but testing them on knowledge they should already know or are currently learning does not always indicate the students' intelligent level. 

Testing is not something we should relay on to have to students prove to us that they are able to retain the knowledge or not. Most students do not excel in testing environments for many reasons, by having a child present information through an activity, presentation, or a project will better indicate what the student has learned. 

We set standards for the students to reach. If a student does not meet the base line average on the standardize testing, we believe the student has not learned anything. That is not always the case. There are many factors that go along with testing. If the test is too long, the student will lose their concentration and perform poorly. They could also lose their concentration if the student is hungry, sleepy, problems with friends or family, or just not in the "test mood". I believe we should do away with these tests and evaluate the student's knowledge in a different way. 

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