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Arguments for Standardized Testing

Arguments for Standardized Testing. By: Barbara Barnes. Do we need high-stakes testing?. How do you feel about high-stakes testing?. How Should Student Learning and Achievement Be Measured?. Tests Student grades Teacher evaluations

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Arguments for Standardized Testing

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  1. Arguments for Standardized Testing By: Barbara Barnes

  2. Do we need high-stakes testing? How do you feel about high-stakes testing?

  3. How Should Student Learning and Achievement Be Measured? • Tests • Student grades • Teacher evaluations • Tests, when used properly, are among the most sound and objective ways to measure student performance.

  4. The Education Commission of the States found that: • Students know what is expected because teachers have prepared them for the test. Students are accountable for their test scores. Expectations are high so students usually perform better. • Schools identify and can address student weaknesses early. • When schools become aware of areas of weakness, they are able to provide additional resources. (teacher aides, programs, peer tutoring and professional development) • When the public sees gains from year to year this promotes confidence in public schools. www.alsde.edu

  5. Support of high-stakes testing also assume that the tests: • Are good measures of the curricula that is taught to students in our schools. • Provide a kind of “level playing field,” an equal opportunity for all students to demonstrate their knowledge. • Are good measures of an individual’s performance, little affected by differences in students’ motivation, emotionality, language, and social status.

  6. Supporters also believe that: • Teachers use test results to help provide better instruction for individual students. • Administrators use the test results to improve student learning and design better professional development for teachers. • Parents understand high-stakes tests and how to interpret their child’s scores.

  7. Gaps Between Testing Principle and Educational Realities • Test users must ensure that results are truly indicative of student achievement rather than a reflection of the quality of school resources or instruction. • It is only fair to use test results in high-stakes decisions when students have had a real opportunity to master the materials upon which the test is based. • Public policymakers should support research on the consequences of such testing.

  8. More Research is Needed • Testing is a valuable part of educational assessment, but it is only a pat of the formula for quality learning. • Test users must guard against allowing the testing process to overwhelm the rest of a student’s mastery of a wide curriculum. • Remedial programs should be in place for students who score low or fail such tests. • Stakes are high!!!! • What will be the long-term effect of high-stakes testing on student achievement? • Will it enhance or diminish broad-based learning?

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