StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
A popular quotation translated from the original Latin says, "A country's citizens are made by the education offered by the State". When George Bush inaugurated the school learning program, No Child Left Behind, he had a rosy vision for the future American citizens; the destiny and dreams of America rest in these young elementary school children who are being molded to be the face of America in the future…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.9% of users find it useful
Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America"

Download file to see previous pages

The curriculum as of today is far ahead of what the school system was earlier. From learning by rote, now the child is allowed more interaction and freedom to gain knowledge from sources other than the school. The curriculum guides and text books are chosen today by the state and they reflect the State's learning standard and benchmarks for a given grade level. To gauge the progress of a child, there are tests to determine the adequate yearly progress which have to fulfill certain standardized goals by which States and school districts assess the child's progress academically.

( Armstrong Thomas, 1987) When there are about twenty or thirty children of diverse learning needs in a class, the academic strengths and weaknesses of a child are most evident during tests. This is referred to as MAP or measures of academic progress. Tests are not an absolute indication of the child's progress or capacity for knowledge. The scoring process is a comparison of the child's responses with his or her peers. Instead of providing a statistical comparison of the child's abilities, it would be better to focus on the level of the skills that the child has acquired, instead of assessing the results of a child's test with a checklist of skills that are expected in a particular grade (Chris Shera, 2007).

It is during interpretative question tests that disconnect between classroom activities and results in the end of grade tests required, is evident. Students are not empowered to study anything outside the requisite classroom curriculum. The program needs a balanced literary approach to maximize the child's ability to view tests in positive (Kosar, 2005) fashion. Then an improvement will be seen in the standardized reading and language test scores.The downside of testing :It is important to know that test results can go wrong for a variety of reasons.

We can actually question the validity of the entire test result for many reasons. Some of these are elucidated below.1. Most tests reward experience (Dunn, Rita and Dunn Kenneth, 1978). A child who has had repeated practice at a certain skill will naturally do it with a lot more ease than a child who has not had the benefit of frequent opportunities to do the same .2. Children from cultural and socio economic minority groups are prone to poor performance on tests for the simple reason that the child may not relate to the subject comprehensively.

For example, a child who does not speak English at home does not automatically think in that language and hence suffers when he is supposed to understand the nuances of a subject taught in English.3. Children can be intimidated by the very prospect of a test at a younger age. The child's performance can suffer due to just the thought of doing a test.4. Some children are not clued into writing within a particular time frame- especially in elementary schools - and dawdle over the test without finishing it.

This does not mean that the child does not know the answer.5. Some deterrents to academic progress could be a host of conditions that disrupt the normal learning process. These could range from language disorders, learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America Essay”, n.d.)
Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1516812-student-testing-in-elementary-schools-in-america
(Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America Essay)
Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America Essay. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1516812-student-testing-in-elementary-schools-in-america.
“Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1516812-student-testing-in-elementary-schools-in-america.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Student Testing in Elementary Schools in America

Education Systems of the US, Germany, and Japan

Many elementary schools have their own standard of grading their students.... More importantly, it differs due to the different teaching methods employed by each of these… The education system also differs due to the degree of control that is placed in hands of the central versus the regional or local governments. In Japan the central government maintains close supervision and provides financial support for schools (Stevenson & In Germany, while the states have the major control, a national coordinating agency keeps a check and ensures a high degree of comparability between the states....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

The Chinese and American Educational Systems

Asian elementary through high schools pay more attention to academics than to extracurricular activities.... American schools offer sports that almost every student can play for competition and fun.... American schools offer sports that almost every student can play for competition and fun....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Standardized Testing in American Education

From this perspective, the historical and sociopolitical issues surrounding standardized testing in america are brought to the fore.... Standardized testing is an issue which has received a fair amount of attention lately particularly as it relates to the fairness and universality of standardized testing in an academic setting.... Seeking to understand this question and the controversial aspects surrounding uniform standardized We begin with an overview of the controversies surrounding standardized testing in a modern context and evaluate these controversies with an eye to how educators can learn from the issues at hand....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Standardized STATE Testing and Stress

The use of standardized testing in the education sector has become ever-present (Cassady, 2010).... elementary school students in 3rd – 5th grade in Texas must take the TAKs (Texas Assessment and Skills test) every year in order to be promoted to the next level.... As significant as examinations are in the life of students, test anxiety among elementary students seems to have been disregarded.... Cassady (2010) and Putwain and William (2008) agree that elementary students show signs and symptoms of test anxiety....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

NCLB in your School

These include utility of summer schooling and tutoring programs, or overall system restructuring if need be (New america Foundation, 2014).... According to New america Foundation (2014), this is in reference to proficiency in mathematics and reading, which is essential in qualifying students for advancement to higher levels of learning.... Accordingly, as founded under pertinent legislation, individual states are tasked with the setting of their individual standards, which students in public schools need to achieve....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework

Analysis of Education in California

he education system in California has both public and private schools such as the University of California, California Community Colleges, public and private elementary schools, private colleges and universities, and, any high schools.... The state has several disadvantaged students such as Africa and Latin america because of the unfair distribution of educational opportunities.... Students from African america families are living below the poverty line and cannot fund their education fully....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Are Americans Schools Obsessed with Assessment

This paper "Are American schools Obsessed with Assessment" discusses American schools that have for the most part always placed a lot of emphasis on educational assessments.... When the usefulness of assessments are taken into account, it becomes obvious that Americans are taking excessive and unjustifiable advantage of an accountability tool designed only to make the necessary changes in American schools for optimal student output and teacher input....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Proposal

Who Are My Students

discusses that English Learners at Superior Street elementary School are progressing at a steady rate.... Superior Street elementary School is committed to meeting the academic needs of a diverse population.... During 2011-2012 school year, Superior Street elementary School consisted of two administrators and twenty-six full-time certificated staff members.... ccording to the 2012-2013 Accountability Progress Report (APR) for Superior Street elementary School, the school had scored 920 wherein 375 students were included in the Academic Performance Index (API), among these, 55 students were English Learners which makes EL be a numerically significant population within the school....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us