Talk:Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 8/8.6.1

Reader Response
I have never been a fan of standardized testing. I do agree with the reading that children should not be assessed on one single test. There may always be one or more factors that can affect bhow a child does on a test at any given time. If teachers are going to use standardized tests as a way to assess what children are learning then they need to incorporate other form of tersting in order to truly assess each student. Lwill031 (talk) 18:15, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

I feel that standardized testing is not an accurate measure of a student's intelligence. I agree with the reading in stating that a single test is not an indicative measure of that student's academic abilities. There may have been other external contributing factors that could affect a low or lower score on the test. In addition, I do feel that many people use standardized testing for the benefits. Like mentioned in the article, it is relatively quick and inexpensive to score and distribute. I feel that students should be allowed other forms of tests or performance measurements in addition to the standardized tests when measuring academic abilities. Rburt005 (talk) 15:16, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh…dreaded standardized tests. I am actually not so opposed to testing students. We must ensure that our kids are meeting basic skill levels. It is the notion that we have narrowed and confined curriculum so much that teachers have no leeway in the types of activities they can do in their classrooms. Instead of a more hands-on or project-based approach, our classrooms are still very teacher-centered. We are test teaching. We are still giving loads of worksheets and homework that are not good methods of formative assessment. We lose students to boredom and disinterest. There has to be a better way. Abitt002 (talk) 18:14, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

I really don't think standardized testing is always a fair assessment of a student's progress. It kind of depends on the student, but in the long run I much prefer to use written assessments to give students more leeway to explain and elaborate on what they've learned– either that or assessment through projects and presentations. I don't think the culmination of everything you teach should lead up to fill in the bubble tests. It can only imagine how incredibly frustrating and unrewarding it would be for me to have to deal with it. Hsmit022 (talk) 17:24, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

The moment I begun to understand what standardized testing was, I genuinely detested it. Teachers, principals, administrators, schools and everyone in general made it seem that my whole life virtually depended on a test. That if I did not pass, I would not be able to attend college or get a good higher education, and my life would be effectively over. I moved to Virginia when I started 7th grade, and until I graduated from high school, I passed each SOL. By the time I started going to college, I realized that this was not exactly true. I still had to work hard if I wanted to receive a degree, but my life was not over if I did not pass on a test, like the SAT. I actually do not hate the test itself, because I believe that it is needed in some situations such as during the middle and end of the year. What I really hate about standardized test is the constant…attention behind it. As soon as you enter 3rd grade teachers are stressing the importance of SOLs, and when you enter your junior and senior year of high school, they are stressing APs and SATs. I just think that people need to take a step back and look at this thing called “standardized testing”, because we are making it much bigger than it needs to be. Instead teaching children new concepts, we are actually just teaching them how to take a test. Adart001 (talk) 01:46, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

I can whole heartedly say that I am against Standardized Testing. I think if it is used as a means to evaluate a student and the educator's teaching abilities than fine, but to place such heavy expectations and threaten the progression of the student is unfair. I personally do not test well, the results merely reflect a big ball of nerves vs. my true academic abilities. I'm aware that it is a quick unbiased way to determine skill levels, however, that's all it should be. We as educators as well as student's shouldn't be so terrified of these tests. These scores can make or break a student regardless of what has been achieved thus far. We're placing heavy demands on our children, when they should be enjoying the many facets of learning. Rpaige (talk) 15:31, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

I think that standardized testing is very helpful. I am in full support of the NCLB legislation passed in the past decade. I think it is good that standardized tests are now required for every single public school in the United States. Standardized tests are good because they keep teachers accountable for their teaching and for student learning. Such programs such as NCLB, which rewards schools who do well on standardized tests, motivates teachers to put thought and care in to teaching, assessment, and into understanding how students learn. Other kinds of learning enrichment measures can still be implemented with such an emphasis on standardized tests; in fact what might be helpful is for school administrations to find a way to encourage some non-standardized test focused teaching activites, without denying the importance of the latter. Mbrowder (talk) 18:05, 16 August 2009 (UTC)