Eliminate Standardized Tests
American students today undergo the burden of standardized testing, an attempt by the education system to evaluate each student’s knowledge of key subjects such as mathematics and reading. However, many students fall prey to a narrowing of the curriculum with a sole focus on standardized test subjects and an inflation of the achievement gap between non-minority and minority students; this causes tension within the school system and furthers the increase of failure from minority students. Few people realize the vast, negative impact standardized tests have on the education system and amplifying the achievement gap between students in American schools.
The current policy among schools is to measure student success …show more content…
White and colleagues, professors at Rutgers and the Columbia University Medical Center, propose, “The immutable factors of socioeconomic status (SES) and race have, consistently, been implicated in fostering an achievement gap” (10). In other words, socioeconomic status, a person’s economic and social standing compared to the other people around them, and race have been regularly questioned as major causes of the achievement gap. If there is an achievement gap, how can test scores accurately clarify if a student is prepared for any profession? Students cannot overcome an oppression they do not control on their own. Similarly, Ronald Roach argues, “poor and minority students attending low-resource schools have had a more narrow and limited learning experience…, with their teachers spending more time on test preparation, math and reading compared to children attending more affluent schools” (34). The essence of Roach’s argument is that poor and minority students have not had an equal chance of expanding their education compared to children at wealthier schools. With fear of losing funding due to insufficient test scores, many schools in lower income areas are left with no choice but to do everything in their power to prepare their students. In trying to prepare for tests, many students become anxious, leading to unneeded stress. However, minority students and students from low income families have a smaller chance of performing well on standardized tests, a growing issue they do not control. According to Sociology professors at the University of California Eric Grodsky and Ericka Felts, and their coauthor John R. Warren, Sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, “Unfortunately for minorities and low income students, standardized testing in American education has reflected,
American students today undergo the burden of standardized testing, an attempt by the education system to evaluate each student’s knowledge of key subjects such as mathematics and reading. However, many students fall prey to a narrowing of the curriculum with a sole focus on standardized test subjects and an inflation of the achievement gap between non-minority and minority students; this causes tension within the school system and furthers the increase of failure from minority students. Few people realize the vast, negative impact standardized tests have on the education system and amplifying the achievement gap between students in American schools.
The current policy among schools is to measure student success …show more content…
White and colleagues, professors at Rutgers and the Columbia University Medical Center, propose, “The immutable factors of socioeconomic status (SES) and race have, consistently, been implicated in fostering an achievement gap” (10). In other words, socioeconomic status, a person’s economic and social standing compared to the other people around them, and race have been regularly questioned as major causes of the achievement gap. If there is an achievement gap, how can test scores accurately clarify if a student is prepared for any profession? Students cannot overcome an oppression they do not control on their own. Similarly, Ronald Roach argues, “poor and minority students attending low-resource schools have had a more narrow and limited learning experience…, with their teachers spending more time on test preparation, math and reading compared to children attending more affluent schools” (34). The essence of Roach’s argument is that poor and minority students have not had an equal chance of expanding their education compared to children at wealthier schools. With fear of losing funding due to insufficient test scores, many schools in lower income areas are left with no choice but to do everything in their power to prepare their students. In trying to prepare for tests, many students become anxious, leading to unneeded stress. However, minority students and students from low income families have a smaller chance of performing well on standardized tests, a growing issue they do not control. According to Sociology professors at the University of California Eric Grodsky and Ericka Felts, and their coauthor John R. Warren, Sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, “Unfortunately for minorities and low income students, standardized testing in American education has reflected,