According to New Study, American Schools Focused on Standardized methods of Testing
In the last one decade, the number of standardized tests that the students are made to go through have gone up significantly. A comprehensive nation wide survey conducted across largest school districts reveal that most schools are relying too heavily on the tests that are not even based on qualifying values. Between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade, a student typically takes as many as 112 standard tests, found Council of the Great City Schools in their study. There is a very sharp contrast in countries that outperform United States in the international exam test thrice in their school years, reported Trib Live.
The study found the heaviest load of test is on the country's eighth graders who spend a whopping 25 hours every school year giving tests. Testing methods followed by schools are even known to affect students as young as pre-K who take 4.1 standardized test, according to the report. The study took 66 urban district schools in the year 2014-15 for their study. They excluded the quizzes and the other classroom tests that do not come under standardized testing. It also did not take into consideration the time that the school spends in preparing the students for the test. The study reveals that there have been high number of tests that the students have been burdened with because of mandates by the congress and the Department of education as well as the state/local government, reports Washington Post.
According to the executive director of Council of the Great City Schools, Michael Casserly, everyone is to be blamed here. He said "You've got multiple actors requiring, urging and encouraging a variety of tests for very different reasons that don't necessarily add up to a clear picture of how our kids are doing. The result is an assessment system that's not very intelligent and not coherent," reports Cleveland.
