"Assessment in the Classroom and Standardized Tests "

      Government mandated testing is becoming more and more popular within the education system. The government wants to evaluate teachers, they want to measure students progress and test students knowledge using standardized tests. For me this is a "touchy" subject. I believe it is important to assess students' learning, however I don't agree with standardized tests. I think students should have to know certain information in order to move onto the next grade and I agree that schools should be held responsible for making students ready to graduate. However, I believe standardized testing is the wrong way to assess students. Standardized tests are different from other assessments. Assessments are made to evaluate, measure and test students learning. Standardized tests do the same however, I feel that they do not truly measure a students learning. I think standardized tests show that a student knows enough information to pass the test. These tests also categorize students where assessing a student in the classroom just shows how much a student knows or how they have changed over a course of time. Standardized tests don’t show how a student has changed; instead it proves that some students are good at taking tests and filling in a bubble sheet and others are not. I also think it is unfair for one test to determine if a student should graduate or not such as; the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).  

            Citation: "Standardized Testing." IQRA' International Educational Foundation. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.  

                                                              <http://iqrafoundation.com/standardized-testing/>. 
       Because the government keeps pushing these standardized tests teachers now have to teach for the test. They don’t have any leeway as to what they can teach; they have to make sure by the end of the year they covered everything that is expected of them. Teachers don’t have the time to slow down on specific topics if they see their students don’t understand. These standardized tests are making it harder for teacher to do their job, which is making them do their jobs half fast.
       Teachers should assess their students in the classroom and I believe the most affective way in doing so would be giving tests, essay questions and review topics in class. Any of these could be good classroom assessments because in a way they each can let the teacher know what the student has learned or remembered. The only problem with giving tests is that they show how much a student can memorize, rather than actually learn and acquire the information. In my future classroom I would assess my students' learning by evaluating them in the beginning of the year, at the end of the year and maybe throughout the year observe them. I would check to see if there were any changes and maybe throughout the year while observing I would be able to see what they are struggling with. It’s important to make sure there is a positive change from the beginning of the year to the end, by observing I would be able to make sure students stay on track.