One of the things that struck me the most when we were
discussing the concept of testing in schools was that it takes all the joy out
of being a teacher. I remember when I was in school and testing week felt like
the worst week of my life. I did not
understand the purpose of the test. All I knew at that age was, that I was to
do the best that I could. I don’t even remember seeing my own results. I think
that teaching and the schooling system has evolved into a business, where
teachers are rated by the scores that there students take on tests. The better
the scores, the more money that the district gets, but how do these tests show
how effective of a teacher you are? Students love their teachers because of all
the creative and interesting topics they
learn about in class. My favorite elementary school teacher read Harry
Potter to us every day. It didn’t enjoy her class because I knew she was
teaching me how to get a good score on a standardized test.
http://standardizedtests.procon.org/#pro_con
This website examines many of the pros and cons to testing. Many people
advocate for them because they feel that standardized testing has a positive
effect on student achievement and is a reliable measure for how well they are
doing in school. Individuals against standardized testing feel that there is no
evidence that testing based programs actually work.
Personally I feel as though testing is never going to go
away. It has become such a large part of the education system, but I feel like there should be a balance between
letting teachers teach subjects they want to teach and are passionate about and
testing students.
I really liked the link you posted because it shed light on topics that I had never even considered before reading this. For example, I never considered non English speakers and students with special needs. Imagine how difficult it would be to take a standardized test especially after all the other tests they have to take to try and master a new language.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you that testing is never going to go away. I hate it and if it were up to me, I'd get rid of them but at the same time I can see why they exist.
The discussion on testing made me wonder where it all started so I googled it and came across this little blog post : http://breakthestandard.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/where-did-standardized-tests-come-from-anyway/
I love that you brought up the concept of testing because it seems that testing is getting to be more and more prevalent everywhere you look. Schools have become revolved around how good of a test score they can get their kids to achieve. You have the state standardized tests, the ACT, the SAT, content quizzes and tests in class, etc. All of which become a prime focus in curriculum and in reality just makes kids stressed and not excited about learning. For many kids paper tests don't do the student justice because they don't reflect accurately what the kid really knows and understands.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this idea as well. I know that personally as a kid I was always so anxious when it came to testing and it really messed with my performance when it came to other activities in the classroom leading up to and during the period of testing. I really think it negatively effects kids and teachers creativity as well as doing a bad job reflecting the knowledge of the students and teachers abilities.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well with your idea on the testing will never go away. You can see it in many teachers, many of them are just there to make sure that you are understanding all the information that will be on the test and that is it. This does not allow the students to form that, relationship per say, of having a favorite teacher. If they all teachers become this way, what will the students of the future be like. Will they expect the things they are going to be tested on be given to them? Who knows? But I do not see anything changing soon.
ReplyDelete