What do you think about standerdized testing for students?
916144
Standardized testing refers to the uniformity of procedure in administering and scoring a test.  This standardization is essential in order to compare one person or group of persons with another person or group.  And, to compare a person with him or herself over time.\n\nThe issue you are raising is not with standardized testing, but with how test content drives the content of the school's curriculum.  Restricting course content to the areas that will be tested ensures that more students will pass the test.  And, some school administrations do evaluate their teachers on the basis of numbers successful on the test.\n\nIn my opinion, the nation-wide emphasis on specific skills has negatively impacted the richness of past public primary and secondary education.  More and more parents and students seem to be coming to the same conclusion that you have reached.  Some are switching to home schooling or enrolling in private schools.  However, you can become responsible for your own enrichment without withdrawing from the public schools.  Simply change your expectations of what they are able to offer.  However, do your very best on the TAKS.  It is a serious endeavor.\n\nYou ask if this is fair.  The answer depends on how you define fair.  There is currently a powerful movement in this country to improve student performance.  It may be instructive to use causal analysis to examine the source of this movement.  Your questions are good ones.  Continue to be inquisitive.\n\nI hope this helps.  If you are interested, read more about the No Child Left Behind Act and how communities around the country have responded.
684516
I think they should have exit exams.  I can't believe how many kids are coming out of high school not knowing how to read, write and do arithmatic.\n\nIt seems to me that kids aren't in school hardly at all these days.  They're out for teacher conferences, in-service, snow days and what have you.  And when they are in school, they're too busy on their cell phones or text messaging and not paying attention and learning.
152110
Personally, I believe ALL children should be tested.  But as a parent, it is not only your right, but also your responsibility, to see that your child is given the best education available/possible.
744163
My daughter, in Fourth grad, aced the TAKS.  I really think that it is detrimental to education to teach to a test.  Kids - like you - don't get to learn history or the arts - the teachers must teach to TAKS.\n\nIt's sad.\n\nI wish Rick Perry or GW would take the TAKS - I bet they wouldn't pass!\n\nGood luck!
627910
not at all , it is commons sense questions.  Go to you local library and there should be a practice test book on it.  Kind of like the ones for college
480496
I concur. Also with the ACT, but I'm starting to believe more in it now since I got a very high score, higher than what my grades would put me as, showing I am unmotivated :D I got suckered into an AP exam and I guess it's okay if you want to pay 80$ and die slowly yet surely when the questions keep coming and coming... I liked the SAT, though, because it was based more on grammar and literature, though I don't know a use for it.
1096301
I think it would be interesting if politicians had the opportunity to voluntarily take a standardized test on the Constitution. The results of that test would be fascinating but not necessarily able to predict the best candidate for the job.
843078
I'm also an inncer-city teacher and I can relate to your concerns.  Part of the problem is that the tests are supposedly designed to measure students' grasp of underlying concepts.  But that's not what they actually measure.  They are mostly word problems, so in the end they are primarily testing the students' verbal skills.  A very bright math student who can manipulate numbers expertly, or a very slow student who can demonstrate understanding using manipulatives, will both fail a standardized test if they can't read and comprehend the test questions.\n\nI've found that my urban students have a lot of trouble with word problems.  One teaching strategy that I had some success with was teaching them how to "decode" test questions.  In other words, I literally gave them lists of key terms in word problems and what they mean.  So at the very least, they knew that if the question asked "how many more," they had to subtract.  But I'm talking about 3rd graders here.  I don't know how well that would apply to higher level math.\n\nThe bottom line is that if you want test results, you have to make some time to teach test prep.  I would guess that your kids who can't sit still during the test are feeling really intimidated.  Often, kids who are perfectly capable of doing the work just freeze up when they see a test.  The only real way to combat this is to familiarize the kids with the test format.  Help them to understand how the test is structured, and give them tools for attacking the questions that they CAN answer.  It's important for the kids to understand that even if questions 1 and 2 look impossible, question 3 might be something you know.  So don't get bogged down.  It's stuff that seems intuitive to adults, but children who are not accustomed to feeling successful don't automatically have these "habits of mind," if you will.\n\nI say, take some portion of the day or week to do test prep.  Help the kids make the connection between the engaging, hands-on stuff and the test questions.  It's really the only way to raise scores.
427310
I think it is better if academic education in standardized internationally. Since the world's a global village, students should be able to access continuation of study anywhere
921927
Any testing is good I feel.  i was not good at tests but maybe if i got them regular in primary school I may have not been too concerned about them.\n\nI did not like secondary school, it was a waste of time.  If you want your child to have a good education then get a tutor or send them to a private school.\n\nWhy oh why did I get country dancing, basketball, indoor hockey for Physical Education in Glasgow.  Nobody in the history of the school has ever became a professional at any of these disciplines.\n\nIn addition music class.  No professional musicians either.  We did have a couple of footballers.  One of which Andy Gray however when I was there, the teachers had a pay dispute and no school team cos they didn't get paid enough overtime. \n\nI wonder if at their interview they made that clear to the panel the the children's development meant nothing when money was involved.
225405
No really,\n\nIt sounded scary to me, but once you sit down to take it, you realize it is the same as taking your SAT.  It looks daunting, but it is just another standardized test.  the only thing that made it harder for me was the fact that you can not go back and review your answers at the end of each section because of the computer based system that they now use.\n\nI would suggest a bit of studying of the system that they are now using and a short breathing exercise just before the test starts, to calm down the nerves a little, but the test is not any harder than any other.
385704
No Child Left Behind requires that a lot of ridiculous standardized testing is done for every student every year.  The tests mean nothing to the students and they often just fill in the ovals and don't even read the questions, but then the government decides which schools are bad and which are good based on these tests.  Not everyone has to take the ASVAB's and ACT's, so they have to have some tests that ALL students are required to take.  You can thank our politicians for this.
260298
...a difficult problem in this period\nof "no child left behind" when curriculums\nare dictated and the test results is all\nthat matters.  Challenging them to do \nbetter on the tests?  Challenging them to\nsucceed in life?  ...a big difference.\nStudents must be made to realize that the\nchoice to succeed is theirs to be made and\nwhat they are learning is relevant to their\nworld now and in years to come.  Your own\nenthusiasm and efforts to inspire will go a\nlong way.  Good luck; with society the way\nit is, you have a lot to overcome, but \ncontinue to do whatever you can to be part\nof the answer.
627316
NO,\n\nI agree that standardized test should an important part of a student's life but not the main. Colleges also consider you normal grades, class rank, gpa, extracirricular activities, leadership, etc.
472325
I think these days, teachers are being forced to "teach towards the test" only.  In my state specifically, being an intellectually well-rounded student means nothing as long as your state test scores look good.  Previously, students were learning to successfully function in society, as well as to do well on tests, but the inverse seems to be in practice today.  No one is teaching courtesy, chivalry, or common sense to kids these days, which I think are imperative to becoming good citizens.  Teachers, in my opinion, are really getting a raw deal now.  Reproaching students by calling parents or punishing them doesn't seem to be working either.  OK, getting back to the teaching topic... one excellent teaching technique is to become as personable with students as possible.  That, in turn, will give students an initiative to learn.  I have had some horrible experiences with teachers that just don't care and have expressed this to students.  I definitely think that teachers these days are on the defensive and this a stark contrast from 20 years ago when the teacher acted more like a second mother to students than a disciplinarian only.
249452
It would be better if you wrote one for them. Most tests are for 8th grade and above. Ask questions like: When was it signed, and by whom? Why is it important to you? What are the amendments in the Bill of Rights? Ask simple questions that require a bit of thought, but not much depth.
82639
not real sure sounds like another excuse for lazyness.instead of holding students accountable for bad grades.they are labeled with some scientific term becouse some students require a litle more 1 on 1.so in efect these lables allow slower students to pass on an excuse.