The Forgotten; testing standardized testing on our kids
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Ballroom A
Start Date
17-5-2012
End Date
17-5-2012
Abstract
There is an astonishing correlation between the increasing dropout rates in the United States and the implementation of new accountability standards under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This research deals with the following consequences of the new system on the learning environment: 1. States are forced to punish consistently low scoring schools through shutdowns, decreased funds, and or a re-organization of faculty/administration. 2. Principals are getting pressured to raise test scores. 3. Teachers are increasingly evaluated on the basis of these scores to such an extent that testing has become the goal and not just a measure. 4. Students are no longer students; they are assets (good test takers) or liabilities (bad test takers). The NCLB, one size fits all, testing with its heavy accountability system has proven to be a formula for disaster. Students are now pawns on this chessboard with the state on one side and school administrators on the other. The more students dropout (are really left behind) the higher the test scores become. This leaves happy principals with a bonus, teachers with a job and the government getting credit for “leaving no child behind’ as the dropout rate soars. We need to get back to the basics that being learning not test taking!
Recommended Citation
Echeverria, Raquel, "The Forgotten; testing standardized testing on our kids" (2012). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 35.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2012/posters/35
Poster Number
20
Additional Mentoring Department
Other
The Forgotten; testing standardized testing on our kids
SURC Ballroom A
There is an astonishing correlation between the increasing dropout rates in the United States and the implementation of new accountability standards under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This research deals with the following consequences of the new system on the learning environment: 1. States are forced to punish consistently low scoring schools through shutdowns, decreased funds, and or a re-organization of faculty/administration. 2. Principals are getting pressured to raise test scores. 3. Teachers are increasingly evaluated on the basis of these scores to such an extent that testing has become the goal and not just a measure. 4. Students are no longer students; they are assets (good test takers) or liabilities (bad test takers). The NCLB, one size fits all, testing with its heavy accountability system has proven to be a formula for disaster. Students are now pawns on this chessboard with the state on one side and school administrators on the other. The more students dropout (are really left behind) the higher the test scores become. This leaves happy principals with a bonus, teachers with a job and the government getting credit for “leaving no child behind’ as the dropout rate soars. We need to get back to the basics that being learning not test taking!
Faculty Mentor(s)
Rex Wirth