Standardized testingStandardized tests are exams given to students at the end of each academic year. The results are used to determine whether or not students move to the next grade level. As our society places more emphasis on education, many school dist

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Standardized testing

Standardized tests are exams given to students at the end of each academic year. The results are used to determine whether or not students move to the next grade level. As our society places more emphasis on education, many school districts, along with the federal government, are using standardized tests to ensure that students receive the best education possible, and we should support this.

First, these tests are given statewide and nationwide, thereby setting a strong standard for all schools to follow. In order to advance, students are required to achieve a minimum score that shows they have acquired the basic, necessary skills of their level. Teachers must therefore emphasize the appropriate material or face the possibility that their students will not pass. This pressure nearly guarantees that students, regardless of environment or background, receive a standard, quality education.

In addition, with these exams, schools become more accountable for the success of their students. By averaging the scores of students, the quality of education of different schools can be compared. With this information, state and federal governments can identify those schools with exceptional results and reward them accordingly as well as identify those performing poorly and offer the necessary aid or take other appropriate actions to help them improve.

Finally, the results of these exams can be used to provide help to those students who need it most. Simply moving children into the next grade level because of age and not ability has long been a staple of most academic institutions. This social promotion needs to end. With these tests, promotion to the next level will be only for those students who pass and show the necessary ability to move forward while those who don’t pass will stay behind to receive more assistance.

lecture:

There is a great deal of emphasis placed on education in our culture, but that has nothing to do with standardized tests and is no reason to use them. These exams are not tools to help students or schools, or anyone for that matter, improve. If anything, they inhibit progress, hurting schools and students alike.

To begin, forcing schools to use these tests will push them all to teach the same things. But, teachers need the freedom to address the needs of their students and these tests don’t give instructors that freedom. They tell teachers what to teach without even knowing the learning styles or interests of the different students in the thousands of different schools in which these tests are given. Put simply, these tests take the power to teach away from trained educators.

Second, students in underperforming schools will be punished whether they pass or not. You see; these tests are often used to determine how much funding schools receive. The better schools perform, the more aid they collect. However, no consideration is made for those schools in rough neighborhoods in which the poor performance of students is more a result of the negative environment than the school itself. How are these students helped when instead of receiving more of the funding they need, this system gives them less?

Third, students who don’t do well won’t be helped. Under this system, a few exams are created for hundreds of different schools with thousands of different students of differing backgrounds, learning styles, and test-taking skills. Yet, these tests determine if all of them will pass or fail. What if these students respond badly to pressure, feel ill, or test poorly? Will this system provide the kind of help these students need by failing them and keeping them in the same grade level? No.

Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on the points made in the reading passage. You have 20 minutes to type your response.

The article claims that the use of standardized tests to evaluate students should be supported. However, the professor explains that there is no reason to have them because they inhibit progress and might hurt students. So, she refutes each of author's reasons.

First, the reading avers that standardized tests can ensure that students acquired basic, necessary skills. The professor opposes this point by saying that teaching same material would not give the teachers the freedom that they need. Learning style of 1,000 students are different, so teachers need to have some freedom in their teaching manner. The lecturer states that standardized tests take away freedom from the trained professors which might not be beneficial for students.

Second, the article posits that schools would be more accountable for the success of their students because of standardized test. The professor refutes this point by mentioning that these tests are going to mainly punish students. She states that the results of these tests are usually used to get more fundings. So, those students who are not studying in a good area and need the funding the most will not get the financial aid. Because their standardized tests results were not as good as the schools with good equipments. The lecturer explains that this is kind of inconsideration for bad neighborhoods and system punishes them for that.

Third, the reading assert that the results can be used to assist the students who need the most help. However, the professor explains that there are hundreds of different schools and thousands of different students with different abilities. The results can be affected by the exams' circumstances, students' ability to handle and take tests, exam stress, and other factors. What if some students respond badly to the pressure caused by standardized test? So, it would not be fair to keep them in the same level with other students who do not know much or did not learn well.

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this is kind of inconsideration
this is a kind of inconsideration

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No. of Words: 321 250
Write the essay in 20 minutes.

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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 26 in 30
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 18 12
No. of Words: 321 250
No. of Characters: 1605 1200
No. of Different Words: 153 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.233 4.2
Average Word Length: 5 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.526 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 111 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 92 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 61 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 27 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.833 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 4.126 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.611 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.336 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.507 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.109 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 4