Standardized Testing Essay Example for Free

Standardized Testing Essay Are you one of the many students who cram in hours upon hours of studying the night before an exam that has been stressing you out all week? You wake up the next morning nervous and full of anxiety, just to take the same test as everyone else, under the same conditions as everyone else. Sounds fair right? Well I don’t believe it is, and here’s why. Standardized tests were made to test the knowledge of a student over a particular course or subject. The ACT and SAT, for example, are composed of four multiple choice sections usually including math, english, science and reading. Well here’s the funny thing, everyone is different. Some students thrive at written tests where some students fail. Some students are better at presentations where other students are not. Because of the differences in student’s ability to learn and retain information caused by many different teaching methods and criteria covered, standardized testing has become an unreliable way to measure a student’s knowledge and should be replaced by other means such as using e-portfolios or performance based assessment. Some of the main problems with standardized tests such as the ACT or the SAT include trying to accurately measure a students knowledge over a particular set of subjects and a phenomenon involving teachers called â€Å"teaching the test†. In a 2013 speech to the American Educational Research Association, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said â€Å"State assessments in mathematics and English often fail to capture the full spectrum of what students know and can do,† he said. â€Å"Students, parents, and educators know there is much more to a sound education than picking the right answer on a multiple-choice question† (Evans). I completely agree with Arne Duncan on this matter. On a typical standardized test you have about a twenty five percent chance of getting the answer right. Potentially, you could have a student who does not know the material at all, but could guess right on more than half the answers and get credit for it. Being a student who has taken the ACT more than once, I can honestly say I feel like the ACT was a poor representation of my knowledge over the subjects tested on. Now with the phenomenon called â€Å"teaching the test† which is where teachers center their curricula around state tests, students become subject only to material that will be found on the test. This not only causes teachers to lack creativity within the teaching of the course, but also causes students to become limited to learning test taking skills. Even though standardized testing can be harmful to student’s creativity, there are some alternatives to this problem. One alternative to standardized testing, relating to the SAT and ACT, would be the use of electronic portfolios or e-portfolios. Terrel Rhodes, vice president for quality, curriculum, and assessment at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC;U) says that â€Å"E-portfolios provide a means for collecting assigned work, as well as students accomplishments in non-classroom settings, so that faculty, internship supervisors, and others can assess it and aggregate or disaggregate the results, depending on the purposes of the assessment† (1). Basically e-portfolios would be a collection of student’s individual work throughout the year, organized into a folder that the teacher would have access to at all times. This folder would help the teacher view how each and every student learns and give an overview on how much each student took away from the course, what not to teach in the following years and what to cover more heavily. This alternative is more effective and personal than a standardized multiple choice test because it gives the teacher a chance to personally view how each individual student is progressing throughout the year. In terms of college admissions, if your portfolio was shared with the colleges of your choice, it would allow college admissions to see your progress throughout the year. So instead of just seeing an ACT test score that a student could have potentially guessed on for more than half the answers, they would be able to see a portfolio showing how well equipped and prepared for college the student is. It would be a great way of telling if the student would be a good fit for their program or not. Given the knowledge at hand, I believe e-portfolios would be a great alternative to standardized testing. Another alternative to standardized testing is performance based assessment. â€Å"Performance assessments measure skills such as the ability to integrate knowledge across disciplines, contribute to the work of a group, and develop a plan of action when confronted with a new situation† (Brudali). This differs from standardized testing in the fact that teachers focus more on the process of learning, where standardized testing focuses on the product. Instead of using tests that are multiple choice that require a student to choose the one correct answer, performance based assessment often times uses group projects, hands-on projects, essays and verbal presentations to determine a student’s knowledge and skills over a particular set of subjects. Another advantage to performance assessment is that â€Å"Performance assessments provide teachers with more information about the learning needs of their students and enable them to modify their methods to meet these needs† (Wren). Teachers actually try to assess each and every students learning process and direct the class accordingly, letting students take away more from lectures. Having this type of assessment in high school would benefit students tremendously in college. Having experience with verbal presentations and hands on projects will provide the student a head start with skills you need for college. These skills would be used for interviews, group projects in labs and speeches given throughout the years. Performance based assessment would tremendously benefit and prepare students for college and would be a great alternative to standardized testing. Knowing that there are already proven solutions to standardized testing, let me ask you why you are still taking them? Studies have clearly proven that standardized testing is an inaccurate and unreliable way to display the knowledge of students. Not only that, studies have also proven that different methods such as e-portfolios and the performance based assessments are a more accurate and effective way of displaying a students knowledge over various subjects. So why don’t you take initiative? Join a club like student council, a club where you have a say with what goes on with your school and the decisions being made. Start a petition against standardized testing and let students get involved. Not only that, let your community get involved. Tell your family and friends about the disadvantages of standardized testing and its inability to measure students’ knowledge. There are many ways you can get involved in your school and community to have a say in the decisions being made with problems such as standardized testing. All you have to do is take initiative and act upon it. With all the knowledge at hand, I truly believe standardized testing is a terrible way to reflect a student’s knowledge and there are many alternatives that can be provided in place of it.

Macbeth And Lady Macbeth Switch Roles :: essays research papers

Throughout the play "Macbeth", two of the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth gradually exchange roles. Macbeth is the kind, caring one of the two in the beginning, but completely changes as the play goes on, as with Lady Macbeth. She starts out as an evil, vicious beast. She is an evil woman who is bond and determined to kill Duncan. At the end of the play this character feels guilt for what she has done and has taken the personality, which was that of her husband in the beginning.At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth speaks and shows her shows how cruel and heartless she really is; "And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty". This shows she has no good in her, what so ever. Macbeth on the other hand, began as a good respectable character. When Lady Macbeth speaks of killing Duncan, he gives many reasons for reasons that he could not do so. Some of the reasons he gives in that speech are, that Duncan respects him, and trusts Macbeth. Duncan is also related to him by blood, and if he were to kill him he would never be able to rid himself of the guilt; wash the blood from his hands.At the climax of the play Macbeth makes plans to kill Banquo, with out Lady Macbeth, without anyone. This is a turning point because up until now, Macbeth was a respectable man, who didn't feel the need to kill for the crown. But suddenly he decides he is going to go against everything he has believed in up till now.As the play comes to an end, Macbeth has gone mad. He kills Macduff's whole family, all the children, and even the young, innocent babies. He loses control and doesn't care about anyone or anything. He is now pure evil.Lady Macbeth has now realized her wrong doings. She realizes how cold and dark she once was. She now wants to carry a candle with her at all times, to have the light with her always. She is now trying to get the stench of blood off her hands, but is unsuccessful. The guilt of murdering Duncan eats away at her.

Who are you

Who are you? Kind, loyal, inspiring, different, loving in my own way, charismatic, fierce, ambitious, family oriented, responsible, reliable, thoughtful, outspoken, love to learn, forgiving, accommodating. ; What do you believe? DO WHAT IS RIGHT! , respect others both humans and animals alike, put family first over all things, personal integrity, taking time off, been honest and fair, trust others, be compassionate towards others, always do my best and commit to excellence in everything I do, to be courageous and stand up for what I believe. ; How do you relate to people? Homeopathic, good listener, kind, good attitude, Why do you believe these things? Because of my diverse background, my personal values and believes allow me to distinguish between right or wrong on most situations. My family and the schools I attended throughout my upbringing helped shaped and influenced who I am today, my morality and personal integrity. Define the purpose for your personal code of ethics. Purpose of personal code of ethics (for example, direct behavior or set goals) ; My personal code of ethics will be he guidelines set forth to help me decide what Is right from wrong.I will honor this code of ethics In order to continue to grow both personally and professionally. I understand that in the future ethical decisions will be more complex and these guidelines may no longer apply; I will update and make changes to my code of ethics accordingly. ; To be respectful To be responsible ; Develop the â€Å"I will† section of your personal code of ethics. ; I will always be honest and forthcoming In everything I do. ; Why: Because If I am not sincere and airtight with others, I should not expect others to behave the same way towards me.

Math Teachers Social Emotional Development - 927 Words

The R Square statistic in Figure 2.1 is 6.0 percent. A 6 percent R Square means that the two independent variables income inequality and household income account for 6.0 percent variation in consensus among math teachers that the social and emotional development of students is as important as their acquisition of knowledge in math classes. A P-value of 1.39E-12 indicates that the probability of the null hypothesis being true is false. Consequently, the results from this regression analysis are statistically significant. Consensus among math teachers that social emotional development is as important as their acquisition of math can vary in the context the teacher works in. Joy Smith a current K-5th elementary music teacher at Huffman Academy in Birmingham Alabama indicates that being a teacher means â€Å"wearing many hats.† Joy Smith is a teacher of some of the most impoverished children in America. She believes that teaching and fostering social emotional development is neces sary to teach. Some students enter her classroom without eating breakfast and/or are concern where they are going to sleep that night. Being in front of a classroom and teaching these students music is not going to encourage them to want to learn music. Alisha Lewis a 7th grade math teacher at Kipp South Fulton Academy in East Point Georgia. Kipp South Fulton Academy is a charter school has a population of 50 percent low-income students. Furthermore, it is one of the top performingShow MoreRelatedImpact Of Technology On Children And Parents935 Words   |  4 PagesCurriculum which elementary schools use â€Å"integrate math, science, social studies, physical movement, early literacy, and social-emotional development† due to certain guided instructions. 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