Standardized Tests

I abhor standardized tests. I will never see a point in them and I’m sure many others share my low opinion of them. As a child I felt that I was only as good as the tests told me I was. Every year I would become extremely anxious when we were testing, I knew that I wasn’t going to grade high on the math section and I was friends with some of the smartest kids in school. I would become embarrassed when we received our results and they would ask me in what percentile I was. I feel like I expected myself to do terribly and so I did, which made me put forth less effort in my math classes since I thought I wasn’t smart enough. I also feel like these tests really don’t reflect the districts ability to teach. Not all students are on the same level cognitively, so it is unfair to give the same test to everyone. The special education school in which I am currently employed is now testing. This is completely absurd to me because I know that many of the kids still cannot even read at the age of 12. These students are unable to have assistance from the teacher, and cannot have the questions read aloud to them. What I was told was that these students are only asked to copy the directions of the test and that’s how they take it. What?!? How does this prove anything to the state at all? It really irks me that these antiquated tests are still given to the students and I still cannot see their purpose.

Report Cards

I believe that report cards are an easy and effective way to keep track of students’ educational growth. These grades can effectively capture the attention of a parent with a child who is not achieving their full potential. Upon receiving these grades students can also feel proud of their accomplishments as well as try and work more diligently on other areas that might need improving. I also think it’s important to make sure the parents understand why their child might be receiving a poor grade in a certain subject. As a teacher I would like to be able to comment along with the grades in order to explain why the student received a low mark. As well as report cards I believe that progress reports are conducive to encouraging students to pick up the slack and work harder. If the student and parent see that halfway through the marking period their grade is poor, they will be able to work harder to bring it up for the report card.