An ideology is a network of beliefs or opinions about a topic. A structure is a road block that stands in the way and prevents injustices from changing and improving. There are many different ideologies and structures that sustain the injustice of standardized testing. The primary ideology regarding standardized testing is that a student’s test scores reflect a student’s intelligence and their ability to succeed. The primary structure affecting standardized testing is social inequality. The most common ideology that people have about students who perform poorly on standardized tests is that they lack a level of comprehension and are incapable of succeeding in the educational system. This belief is especially prevalent in regards to high stakes tests such as college entrance and high school graduation exams because the focus is on the test score. The perception is that these scores are the sole indicator of the student’s knowledge of a subject and their ability to succeed at a higher level of education. Therefore, …show more content…
People who follow this ideology are unaware that standardized tests may not accurately measure a student’s knowledge and that these tests fail to assess the full potential of the student (Evans, Ashman). The structure that most significantly sustains the injustice of standardized testing is social inequality. Students from different socioeconomic backgrounds are evaluated by the same set of criteria and are held to the same standards. Unfortunately, the students who live in and attend a school in poor communities are already behind when they start school and are immediately set up for failure. Most of the students in these schools come from households that have lower incomes and they do not have the opportunities and or the money to provide additional educational support in the home, or access to a private education or tutors. The schools districts and the schools themselves tend to have less money. Therefore, they lack the resources
Standardized testing has been ruling over the lives of students, making or breaking them in their education without fair judgement. Tests like the SAT and the ACT count for way too much when applying to colleges, which in turn limits the student 's capabilities to thrive in an environment that would benefit them. There are many problems within a standardized test that deems them to be unreliable as a true test of knowledge. Although designed to test groups of students on intelligence, standardized testing neglects to fairly acknowledge the abilities of each unique student which reflect their true capabilities.
The Common-School model is one in which the school system is set up in order to allow all students an equal education. The disparities between social classes would, theoretically, be eliminated by this normalization. The Sorting-Machine model recognizes that all students are not created equal. Teachers, counselors, and standardized tests would be used to impartially “overcome the influence of family background” (Spring, 2012, p. 59). Finally, the High-Stakes testing model is based on the notion that schools can “give everyone an equal chance to learn and to be tested without cultural bias” (Spring, 2012, p. 63). Standardized tests are used for all forms of advancement and placement from grade-level promotions to professional credentialing. These models are used side-by-side, to some degree, in our 21st century implementation of public education.
Standardized tests are unnecessary because they are excruciating to the minds of many innocent students. Each year, the tests get tougher and stricter until the students cannot process their own thoughts. The tests become torturous to the minds of those only starting in the world of tests. The students already battling in the war are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into the world of uncreativity and narrowness. As the walls narrow in on them, they are lost and unable to become innovative thinkers. Moreover, the implementation of standardized tests into the public school systems of the United States of America has controversially raised two different views –the proponents versus the opponents in the battle of the effectiveness of
Standardized testing has become the main component in determining a student’s capability. A test should not determine if the student has a mind that is above average. In the article titled “Standardized Testing: Undermining Equity in Education”, it states, “Qualities such as a student’s sense of citizenship, ethics, confidence/self-esteem,...respect for others, self-discipline,...are not seen in standardized tests.” Every student is unique and has
Today, it can be observed that society has shifted education drastically from the time schools were constituted, to now. Throughout history, schools have gone from private, where only the elite can attend, to public schools where virtually anyone can attend. One of the factors that goes along with education is standardized testing. Frederick J. Kelly, father of the standardized test, once said, “These tests are too crude to be used, and should be abandoned.” Not only has this shift occurred within education itself, but it has occurred within the testing concepts found within standardized testing so much so that the founder of these tests has chosen to give up on it.
The use of standardized testing to measure students’ knowledge is an inaccurate reflection of their capabilities. By being forced to take a test that does not effectively show their abilities, students become overstressed, and the tests themselves do not promote true academic achievement. Rather than learning about subjects in order to gain knowledge, students simply memorize facts and formulas to get a decent test score. Standardized tests are not an appropriate measure of student performance, only benefit certain groups of students, and do not prepare students for the real world.
In this day and age-standardized tests have become the sole way of testing kids, and it's affecting our educational system and schools. As stated by Education Week, an American education news site, every state requires some sort of standardized test that students must take. Our nation is no longer just looking at how kids learn and grow to see if they are achieving. They are measuring this achievement or competency through a test. Additionally, according to the Washington Post,”The average student in America’s big-city public schools takes some 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and the end of 12th grade” (Valerie Strauss). As important as standardized tests have become, the question begs again, “Which school provides students with the skills needed to learn and perform on these tests”. While both year-round and public schools benefit its students, year-round schools focus on student retention, while public schools focus more on standardized tests.
Standardized tests are often unfair to a wide range of students. Students coming from high-poverty schools often have fewer resources and weaker teachers (Layton A1). “People are sick of the overkill of test volume and the consequences, ridiculous things like rating art teachers based on the reading test scores in their schools” quote Robert Schaeffer (Layton A1). “Fort Myers, Florida, gives 183 tests during the year!” quote Sen. Patty Murray (Layton A1). There is many ways students can be evaluated more
A standardized test refers to any examination that is administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. There are two major types of standardized test: aptitude test and achievement test (Popham 1999). The test that is most familiar to parents, educators and students is the standardized achievement test. Every year schools administer achievement test to students, the scores of these test are then used by the public and school board members to evaluate a schools effectiveness. Although previous generations of American student have had to sit through test, never have test been given so frequently or played such a prominent role in schooling as they do today (Kohn 2000). The large role standardized testing has taken in todays schooling has lead many to question whether or not it is effective in measuring educational quality. In fact many researcher have reason to believe it is in face ineffective due to a bias against minority students. In order to understand how a bias in standardized testing would impact minority students, we must educate ourselves on the amount of preparation the test requires, as well as how it is created. The issue of standardized testing being biased should matter to all people, not just those who are directly effected by it, because as a society it is our job to ensure that each child is given equal opportunity to succeed.
Standardized testing effects teachers’ salaries and may even cost them their job. If a teacher has a classroom of very well test takers and their test scores are higher, than the teacher could get a raise and have a better chance of keeping their job. Although if a teacher has a classroom full of not so good test takers than the standardized test could harm that teacher’s salary and job. Also, standardized test can have a resounding impact on a student's future. If a student takes the SAT or the ACT and does poorly on the test after several attempts, then their chances of getting into college, despite having an outstanding academic standing in high school, are slim.
“No issue in the U.S. Education is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and learning” (Phelps). A tool that educators use to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of a student’s performance. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. “Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools: achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude” (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a teacher assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a
If someone was to ask you “how do you define student achievement?” what would your answer be? Would you say student achievement is measured by state achievement tests? Or would you say that student achievement is too complex a subject to be objectively measured? There are many important skills students must be taught, and we need a way to effectively measure if they are in fact learning those skills. However, standardized tests cannot effectively show the learning of all students, especially those that are not good test takers. And of those skills that are tested, there are an endless number of arguably more important skills that aren’t being valued because they cannot be calculated. Furthermore,
“One thing it seems standardized tests are exceptionally good at measuring is socioeconomic status. In Class and Schools, Rothstein argues that this is because wealthier students have parents who can spend more time with them and more money on enrichment programs for them. He also writes that wealthy students also generally have better health and more housing stability than their lower-income peers, both of which also lead to higher achievement.” (Quinn Mulholland).
A very current and ongoing important issue happening within the education system is standardized testing. A standardized test is any examination that's administered and scored in a calculated, standard manner. There are two major kinds of standardized tests: aptitude tests and achievement tests. Standardized aptitude tests predict how well students might perform in some subsequent educational setting. The most common examples are the SAT’s and the ACT’s. The SAT and the ACT attempt to estimate how well high school students will perform in college. But standardized test scores are what citizens and school board members rely on when they evaluate a school's effectiveness. Nationally, five such tests are in use: California Achievement Tests,
Standardized tests can also be biased or unfair because questions on these tests necessitate understanding and abilities that typically children from advantaged families have (Kohn, A, 2000). Children who live in poorer communities have a