Education has always been a very hot topic. Since the beginning of time, we, the people, have known that education is very important. That has never been disputed. The problem lies in the following question: Who should determine how education is measured and run? For years this has been argued, and still today has yet to be answered. Should education be a local, state, or federal decision? Because that question is still unanswered and probably always will be I believe the focus should be on what we can change; how should the students be assessed and held accountable? This is when standardized testing comes into effect.
High stakes, standardized tests are everywhere. Almost every state has implemented some sort of state testing program; the differences in what they measure, how they measure it, and how they set achievement levels make it virtually impossible to conduct meaningful comparisons of individual student performance.
Most teachers are comfortable with developing and using tests for classroom purposes, whether to see how much students have learned, to provide a basis for grades, or to gain an understanding of individual student’s strengths and weaknesses. Were some of those same teachers begin to disagree is with the subject of standardized testing. Teachers are taught to treat each student as an individual and ‘modify’ for those who need it. With standardized testing in play, everything teachers should do for each child is then questionable. As a teacher in Tennessee you are given a list of ‘standards.’ You are required to teach those standards to every child in your class. You are also given a date in which your students will be tested over those standards. Teachers have a limited time to go over every topic. So they have to make the decision to move forward to a new topic, even though some students aren’t 100% ready, or to continue covering the same topic and not have time to cover every thing. You also have the issue of every child is given the...