Ch.+14+resources

Denise Alexander = Chapter 14: Standardized Testing  = Testing is a very controversial issue in America. The stakes are high, teachers are stressed out, and students have been spending an increasingly large amount of time filling in bubbles. The issue is whether all of this stress is equating to an increase in learning. Teachers are now “teaching to the test”, in order to increase the students’ scores. The extent to which teachers focus their instruction on testing is debatable. As a result, it is difficult to correctly interpret the increase in test scores. Are the increases in scores a result of better instruction, or a result of an increased focus on testing? Another issue, which is especially true in the School District of Philadelphia is the validity of these standardized tests. Every five weeks the students in the School District of Philadelphia take benchmark assessments that consist of 20 questions. The benchmarks assess, on average, approximately eight to ten skills or standards. Therefore, each of the standards are assessed only once or twice on a test. It is incorrect to determine a students’ mastery of a standard based on the results of a single question. The tests should focus on only a few standards in order to accurately assess a student’s mastery of those standards. Another issue that is always present with testing is the issue of bias. Standardized testing often discriminates again students who are minorities or economically disadvantaged. The background knowledge and vocabulary required to be successful on many standardized tests is not adequately developed in some students. These students often come from families that do not expose their children to a variety of experiences, knowledge which many affluent children possess. NAEP testing is not taken as seriously as the PSSA tests. The schools are not penalized for their NAEP scores. The students are not pressured to perform and often the students are so burnt out from testing that they do not put in the required effort to be successful on the test. Even with all of the negatives of testing, it is still necessary. There needs to be a way to assess schools’ achievement and success. For students who are trying to enter a competitive high school or college, there must be a way to compare the schools and the education that the students have received. Thus far, standardized testing is the only consistent way the education system has found to compare the schools and the students’ education. .