Throughout an educational career, tests are the bane of any student’s existence. Students may be pleased to hear Obama’s recent classification of standardized tests as unnecessary. His administration aims to limit standardized test prepping to take up less than two percent of class time.
While I agree that tests are not the most important aspect of an education, how else would you examine a student’s knowledge in the subject any other way?
President Obama said students are spending too much time in the classroom taking tests. However, anyone in school knows that most students wait until the last minute to study, and only some teachers spend the class period before a test reviewing material.
The standardized tests students are taking in elementary, middle and high school are, in fact, preparing them for college. If standardized tests are unnecessary and are therefore not focused on, how will those students cope when they come to college and take classes where their whole grade is based off of a few exams and quizzes? This will set the students up for failure.
According to an article by U.S. Today, “the average amount of time devoted to taking mandated tests during the 2014-15 school year was 4.2 days, or 2.3 percent of school time, for the average eighth-grader—the grade with the most mandated testing time.”
So is the extra .3 percent what Obama is concerned about? If you put it into perspective, most Georgia school districts hold classes for 180 days. Out of all that time spent in class, just over four days of test taking is not a lot of time at all. H
owever, that hands-on learning is just as important; although one cannot weigh a student’s competency of knowledge in a subject solely on participation and projects.
Equal parts of testing and hands-on learning need to be implemented. There are many different techniques to learning, and everyone learns differently, so not focusing everything on tests, but a student, would be suitable. It would show they are being well-rounded in testing and that they are capable demonstrators in projects.
In the last few years, the high school dropout rate has been declining , according to the U.S News & World Report. That should be the real focus on education. How can we prepare students for college and the real world?
For years Obama has been talking about ways to make college more accessible to everyone. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are arguably the two most important tests you will ever take in your learning career.
The honest truth is that we really already have the best simulation in school. In the real world, you are judged on the performance you put forward at work, and when you are a student, learning is your job.
Saying that standardized tests are unnecessary and limiting the amount of class time to under two percent is going to have a lopsided effect on students, and when they come to college, they are going to be blindsided by the weight the exams have on their success.
Maybe include a statistic here?
