Trey Grigg English 1102-070

Academic Essay

In the field of education, there is a controversial argument when it comes to the most efficient way of determining the progress or success of a student. The regular way of executing this determining factor that we have grown into is called standardized testing. The success of an individual is evaluated by either a single or multiple tests for almost any course. For an end of course test, if you did well on that test, then you advance to the next course. If you did not do so well, then the course has to be retaken up to multiple times before you can progress. The argument being made on this topic is that not everybody is a good test taker although they may know the course material well; testing is something a lot of people struggle with. A lot of factors come into play when the testing environment is established in a classroom. These factors are continuously being argued and discussed to determine the best use of standardized testing. I know from a personal experience that testing is a very difficult thing for me. It is actually my biggest issue when it comes to school. I seem to understand and take in the course material at a decent rate, but testing is just intimidating. There are too many instances where I get discouraged by the wording or even the time limit on tests. The biggest feared test was the SAT I took my senior year in high school. I knew so much was at stake at the time and it only made that test even harder. I always seem to study the wrong things, or over study and end up going brain dead when the actual test comes. My learning style seems to be affected by my instructors teaching style. So if my instructor has a bad teaching attitude or is very careless, then that causes me to be just as careless. Thats at least what I have discovered. Keshia Weaver backs me up on this when she mentions Not every students learning habits are the same, so various teaching styles must be implemented for an efficient spread of learning (Weaver 13).

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Weaver also mentions the struggle between teaching for students to learn and apply, and teaching for students to pass the test. Many students get acquainted with what the test will be like, so the test is being studied more than the actual material. Weaver explains how this takes away from the application process of the material. Another thing I struggle with right before the test is cramming. I find myself and many of my fellow peers trying to study everything right before the test. This causes a long term problem down the road. Memorization is a key factor for being successful in school, and when you become a crammer, it is hard to retain all the necessary material for the courses later to come. Weaver would also back up this statement by saying Students will not only study last minute and cheat the system for testing, but they will more importantly cheat their selves in the long run (Weaver 18). Only certain subjects such as science, English, and even physics would be courses that I would think needs more than just a test to determine success. Sherry Southerland would agree by saying that Theres more to science than just testing (Southerland 6). Southerland discusses how many teachers dont change their styles to benefit the students way of learning, but to make it to where the material being taught is exactly what is on the test. That seems to be a huge problem in the education system today. Southerland focuses on how this is a very popular effect in the field of science. She also discusses the idea of labs and how there should be more to determining the success of a student than just a test (8-10). Science is a course where application of material is needed. Testing can only go so far in a course like this. To establish a good understanding of a course, an oral presentation, a hands-on experiment, or even a good visual can be used to express the knowledge that a student has in a course. Standardized testing seems to take away from that. Douglas Archbald in his Beyond Standardized Testing book would disagree and explain that Standardized tests should not be criticized for something they have no

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intentions on doing (Archbald 68). Archbald thinks that these tests had a specific purpose, even though he admits to the failures of standardized testing. Douglas doesnt know what a perfect solution would be to correcting standardized testing, because he thinks that there is nothing wrong with how they are being used to begin with. He mentions the ease of standardized testing and how efficient they are at determining success for large amounts of students. Not everyone would agree with Douglas on this. I can agree that this is one of the most beneficial ways of dealing with an extreme amount of students in a timely fashion. There is no easier way that has been proposed to account for such a popular crowd of students and their understanding of academics. Mark Garrison is one that despises standardized testing and notices the failures in it. Garrison said Standardized testing is the number one reason for social inequalities throughout the school system (Garrison 21). Garrison explains how the educational program is becoming more and more controlled by the government. With more control of education throughout the government, it requires certain standards and laws that will apply federally, when it should be taken into the states. This would account for much easier control of education dealing with a smaller setting, and would accompany the tactic of competition among the states. This shoots towards improving each state at its own rate in which it will survive better economically. Garrison says I like to think of standardized testing as not being a way to improve education, but to control it (Garrison 34). He explains how this kind of testing eliminates the few with social inequalities and discourages many of the students that are very well rounded. This basically says that most students with social inequalities, such as a paranoia taking a test in a room full of students, fall short of exerting all their knowledge into these tests. The No Child Left Behind Act is humorous to Garrison because he thinks that this is the exact opposite of

Trey Grigg English 1102-070

what is being done in America. One alternative that Garrison suggests is to replace these high risk tests is by introducing Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences so that a vast range of human abilities and achievement can be considered (Garrison 41-42). Garrison sure does point out the social flaws in standardized testing and also takes a political stance at it as well. It is clear that Garrison is consistent with how politics play a role in education. Going back to the government controlling the education system, Garrison sees this type of testing determination as a very general and federal-like action taken by the government. I can agree as well with this subject matter. Its like putting a blanket, which would be the standardized testing idea, all over America when you know it has many mountains and flat areas. Imagine what that would look like in a three-dimensional perspective. This causes certain places to grow and certain places to be at a standstill. Economically, this is a very invalid way of trying to grow in our education by blanketing the country in a general standard test-like way. After taking into account all of the informational sources that have been discussing this topic for years now, it came to my conclusion to find some present time opinions from the students their selves on the matter. Based on some surveys done with various classmates, standardized testing is not a much liked subject for the most part. Most of the students came back with the strong feeling of disgust for tests. The most disliked result from testing was the time limit. Students tend to struggle under pressure, and adding a time limit to a test doesnt help that matter at all. Rushing to finish a test causes simple human errors, careless mistakes, and bad judgment on what you actually have to read throughout. I fall into this category of feeling stressed over the vicious time limit for almost every test I take. Im not stating that time limits are the reason so many tests are failed, but it does add pressure during test taking which causes lack of decision and thought process. Another topic was brought up in the surveys, and this one

Trey Grigg English 1102-070

had mixed opinions on it. A lot of people like the fact that their test matches the work they have been doing in class all along. Some students get the test and are completely oblivious as to what has just been handed to them. Actually, this is the case most of the time for students. I seem to understand the subject and ideas covered in class, but when a test is handed out to me it feels as if most of these tests are more difficult and require extreme application that I have not been able to do. This tends to be the same problem among most students. Most teachers will end up teaching basically what the test will be, and this is great for the teacher because it reflects better grades. This is also bad for the students because by teaching the test, you cannot incorporate all applications that come with the subject. This works vice versa as well and cause for students to know how to apply what they have learned, but the test looks confusing and is wordy to them. This hits a student by lowering their confidence and adding stress to the test taking. With all these surveys, I see a direct mirror of how I feel towards testing altogether. I can very well correlate to each source and see where they stand on this topic. I have had a bad experience with standardized testing in my years of school, and have yet to find a strong solid view that backs up this kind of testing. A different approach to teaching would be to try and become more personal and work one-on-one with the student. This seems to benefit me more because I can express myself without the discouragement from others. Another great way to reflect back on the progress of a student is by the work that has been turned in with a selfanalysis that lets the student reflect on where they stand with the topic. I guess this would be considered a portfolio of some kind, but I would like to think of it as a diary-like kind of resolution. This can be taken into account every class day that expands on what was learned, and what was confusing throughout. This way the student can implement more on what they feel less comfortable about without having to express it with the whole class. I have learned in

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English that it is best to just write down where you are with things, because it helps the mind see where you are by releasing stress and tension. Everybody learns differently though, so this is just a trial and error type of problem to work on. I fit right in with the rest of my peers as my perspectives on standardized testing and the struggles I have encountered with it. Ultimately I have concluded that standardized testing is a fallible way of determining the success of a student through academics, and it must be dealt with throughout the future in a timely manner.

Trey Grigg English 1102-070

Archbald, Douglas A, and Fred M. Newmann. Beyond Standardized Testing: Assessing Authentic Academic Achievement in the Secondary School. Reston, Va: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988. Print. Aydeniz, Mehmet, and Sherry A. Southerland. "A National Survey Of Middle And High School Science Teachers' Responses To Standardized Testing: Is Science Being Devalued In Schools?." Journal Of Science Teacher Education 23.3 (2012): 233-257. ERIC. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Garrison, Mark J. A Measure of Failure: The Political Origins of Standardized Testing. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009. Print. Standardized Testing Issues: Teachers' Perspectives. Washington: National Education Association, 1977. Print. Weaver, Keshia. Standardized Testing: Measurement Of Academic Achievement. Online Submission (2011): ERIC. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.