Kiah Collier of the Texas Tribune wrote an article on April 29, 2016
discussing the overall stagnant scores of the STAAR test this year, despite the
recent higher standards. There are quite a few major issues to deal with within
this one topic. First of all, the fact that there was really not much of a
change in the scores when comparing this year’s to last year’s is concerning to
me. Shouldn’t those in charge of the curriculum and standardized testing be
able to look at the results of STAAR tests and see what areas students are lacking
in, and then adjust the next year’s curriculum accordingly? These tests aren’t just
frivolous matters either, they can determine whether or not a student is able
to move on to the next grade, or if they will have to repeat the year. Considering
that Texas is one of the worst states when it comes to education, I would think
that someone would be actively trying to get our test scores up. But I guess
that would just be crazy to use any of the state’s money, time or resources for
educating its citizens…
Not only are student’s not being properly educated in the
first place, but there are so many technical difficulties and mishaps taking
place that they barely have a chance to adequately show what they really know. The
article explains that “in March, technical glitches impacted more than 14,000
computerized STAAR exams, causing students to lose answers (some were also
given the wrong test)." Some school districts are discovering that certain exams
were scored incorrectly or were sent to a church rather than a school for
grading. Obviously, the state, and whatever private companies that play a part
in this testing, have some work to do. At the moment, they seem unable to guarantee
that every student’s test is fairly and accurately graded.
I think that standardized testing should be gotten rid of
all together. It doesn’t make any sense to test every single student in the
same way over randomly chosen topics that may or may not be relevant. Everyone
has their own learning styles and capabilities, with different strengths and
weaknesses. Rather than preparing their students all year for one test,
teachers should have the freedom to help each of their students learn in a way
that will benefit them most and prepare them for the next year.
There is no doubt that there are problems with Standardized testings in Texas. And one of the main problem has to do with efficiency. But these testings do have their benefits. It's just that these benefits could be much greater.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that we should get rid of the entire Texas standardized testings. Instead, we should improve them and make them more efficient. Some of the major problems I see with the standardized testings are the amount of time required from schools each year, the incentives or lack thereof, and how poorly they are structured/organized/administered.
Schools with higher overall scores and performances should be well rewarded. We must create incentives for schools, and the reason for them to compete. This will naturally drive up most schools' overall performance within competitive districts.
And the main reason to keep standardized testings? It is for our tax-paying citizens.
Tax-payers in Texas deserve the right to know how well the schools, they paid for, perform compare to other schools at a national, state and local level. After all, education is one of the main portion of their taxes.
In Hannah Newborn’s post about STAAR testing, she talks about how the test scores have not changed that this presents a critical issue in education. I think that teachers and people in charge of the curriculum should not have to bear all the blame. Although the argument can be made that teachers should just teach harder, the same argument can be made for the students as they should just study harder. A student unwilling to learn can be considered a lost cause at times and having a teacher that wants to teach them will not always make the student learn.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I completely agree with the fact that if standardized is such a big deal to the education of students, then these test should be taken better care of and students should not have to worry about whether their test were graded correctly or if they were even graded in the first place. Standardized test can decide the fate of a student on whether they have to go to summer school or even repeat a grade, losing any test or being graded incorrectly should always be seen as unacceptable.
I don’t think that standardized testing should be taken away completely because although these test can at times be random on what they test, they can serve as a way to gauge just how well a student has been taught over the year. This does have its drawbacks such as having a curriculum specific to the test instead of a curriculum that could help with development of the student’s mind. However, there is now better alternative to standardized testing and I believe it is up the citizens of Texas to take charge in correcting these major educational problems.