Standardized Testing Argumentative Analysis

878 Words4 Pages
The future of the standardized tests is highly uncertain since there’re 200,000 or 20% of eligible students decline to take the tests in New York this year, the number quadrupled from previous year and growing fast year after year since its beginning. Even the education officials consider taking strict penalties on schools with highest opting percentage to reverse the trend. Opponents of the tests, mainly students, parents and teachers, appeal to giving students the rights to choose to take the tests, since the tests are too difficult to pass which will reduce the chances of students’ being admitted by higher degree’s schools and increase the probability of teachers’ being unfairly judged based on the tests’ results. It might be rationale for…show more content…
If all students take the tests every year, the tests results can be used as reliable and consistent data to analyze how well teachers and schools do to enhance students’ reading and math skills and figure out measures to make an improvement. However, in recent years the percentage of students opting out the tests grows fast. Last year more than 20% percent students dropped the tests, quadrupling the number from the year before. In addition, this large increase of students not taking the tests happened when the tests are required for all eligible students. If students are allowed to choose to take the exam, we can reasonably infer that the percentage of students taking the tests will further drop. This significantly distorts the tests results data distribution and cover the main causes of average unsatisfactory performance students have in the tests. We can’t determine whether the unsatisfactory performance results from education inefficiency or just results from the students opting out the tests are those from wealthy and mid-class families who probably receive better education on reading and math. Lacking of reliable and consistent tests results data, education office and schools can’t work out effective and pertinent improvement procedures to solve the problem of reading and math education

More about Standardized Testing Argumentative Analysis

Open Document