The "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001
The "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001 was enacted and it mandated students to pass standardized exams to graduate from high school or move up in grade. The standardized testing has introduced a nationwide debate as to whether it is necessary to subject children into a judgment by tests. The testing has been alleged not to correlate with successful career and college outcomes or with the actual learning. Notably, both private and public schools in the United States are required by law to implement standardized assessments each school year, whose aim is to ensure that the students meet the set standards of both the federal and state governments. There are several pros and cons of implementing the measures with the majority of the stakeholders unsure as to whether the tests have helped or hurt the students. However, according to the majority of educators and parents, high stakes testing has the power to deny a child from acquiring a high school diploma or force a student to repeat a grade if they fail to meet the set standards. In most cases, the new standardized achievement tests are not correctly understood by parents and students, and they are known to cause anxiety even to the best-known test-taker. Therefore, there is no need for the panic, and engaging preparations experienced by the students as they prepare for the tests, and thus, the high stakes testing should be eliminated.
The Effects of High Stakes Testing on Teachers and Learners
High stakes test results are mainly used to decide the fate of the student, and thus both the teachers and the learners are under constant pressure to concentrate on the subject matter of the tests. Educators frequently feel that their teaching jobs are evaluated depending on how well the students perform in standardized exams (Mitka 2569). As a result, they fail to concentrate on applying new teaching techniques and methods in the classroom and concentrate on teaching the test. Consequently, issues such as engagement, inquiry, creativity, and risk-taking that are crucial in student learning are forgone. Also, pressure on the teachers can be detrimental by clamping down their innovation and creativity in class resulting in less flexibility and the increased need to tailor the lesson plans to meet the needs of the class group and students (Nolin, and Parr 41). Lack of innovation and freedom in class can result in high classroom turnover and unhappy teachers. Also, the increased pressure on both parents and teachers is counter-productive, and thus, it does not motivate the students to work harder to pass the test, but it stifles their learning (Tahmasbi, and Yamini 4). The pressure does not encourage the students to take education seriously, and it makes them feel inadequate and unfit to continue with their studies leading to high dropout rates.
The Repercussions of High Stakes Testing
High stakes testing has the repercussion of contributing to high test cheating among the students and educators. Large-scale cheating schemes may be drafted by school administrators and teachers with the primary aim of avoiding possible sanctions and punishments that may result from poor test results (Nolin, and Parr 53). The examiners can systematically purpose to change the test answers or decide to display the correct answers to students while undertaking the exam. Also, the results of the tests can be used to disproportionately target to expel historically low-performing students. The high stakes test is the leading contributor to increased high dropout and failure rates, and lower graduation rates especially from minority groups and students from low-income households (Tahmasbi, and Yamini 5). The system also discriminates against students with limited proficiency in English and learners with special needs. Therefore, the test is unfair, leading to students and teachers seeking all the possible ways to pass the exam.
Benefits of High Stakes Testing
Proponents of high stakes testing argue that the results can be used by teachers and curriculum developers to create a teaching plan that serves the needs of the student, and thus, helping them in the long run. Parents should interpret the results as a tool for checking the progress of the learner and not to consider the outcomes as a judgment on their ability or intelligence (Schulze 80). Usually, the data from the statewide testing is available in the public domain and parents can access the results and use them to make more informed decisions on the quality of education of their children. Also, the yearly test results can be used by the learner to test their abilities over time and plan on how to improve on them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, high stakes testing should be eliminated for they are not useful in assessing the true academic ability of the student in the learning process. No child deserves to be forced to repeat an academic year or denied the chance to graduate from high school based on poor results. The pressure given to both the teachers and the students to produce appealing results narrows their choices to encourage diverse talent growth. Most of them concentrate on different ways to pass the exams resulting in exam malpractices such as cheating. Impacting knowledge and skills to students is more critical than spending valuable instructional time by teachers preparing students to pass the tests. Academic programs in schools should not be narrowed to meet the requirements of the high stakes tests.
Works Cited
Mitka, Mike. "Some Physicians Protest "High-Stakes" Tests". JAMA, vol 285, no. 20, 2013, p. 2569. American Medical Association (AMA), doi:10.1001/jama.285.20.2569-jmn0523-2-1.
Nolin, Joshua, and Brian Parr. "Utilization Of A High Stakes High School Graduation Exam To Assess The Impact Of Agricultural Education: A Measure Of Curriculum Integration". Journal Of Agricultural Education, vol 54, no. 3, 2015, pp. 41-53. American Association For Agricultural Education, doi:10.5032/jae.2013.03041.
Schulze, Joshua. "Testing: A Systemic Functional View Of High Stakes Test Preparation Materials". Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, no. 11, 2011, p. 80. Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose De Caldas, doi:10.14483/22487085.155.
Tahmasbi, Soheila, and Mortaza Yamini. "Teachers’ Interpretations And Power In A High-Stakes Test: A CLA Perspective". English Linguistics Research, vol 1, no. 2, 2015, pp. 2-6. Sciedu Press, doi:10.5430/elr.v1n2p53.
