Less Focus on Testing
As a practicing teacher,I have learned several things that can negatively effect a students education. I feel that testing is important in order to see what the student DOES know instead of testing the student to see what they haven\’t learned and what the teacher hasn\’t focused enough on. I feel that more teaching could be done if there was less pressure on teachers. When NCLB was first developing, I thought it was a great idea to include into education, little I know of the negative effects that it has put on education.
NCLB gives teachers a specific amount to teach students and limits them to what they can and cannot teach. This has created a very stressful environment for teachers, students and education in general. I do not feel like NCLB is useless, I think that it has potential to improve education, I just feel that certain things need to be changed in order for schools to improve.
I feel the testing for NCLB should be more performanced based. Although students are required to sit down at a desk, read a question and write what they think is the correct answer, this does not prove what a student knows or what a student has learned during the school year. Testing is a lot of pressure on students so I do not feel that the testing that is required actually shows what the student knows. Teachers see what students are capable of every day and I can not imagine the frustration a teacher must feel to see their student succeed at learning a certain content area but then failing at it on the standarized test. When I am a teacher a year from now, I would like to see things and do things differently.
By using performance-based assessments, then this will be a more detailed way of actually assessing what the students has learned. If there was less pressure to teach a certain amount, then I feel that the classroom will be more laid back and more of an enjoyable environment for students and teachers. I appreciate that the main idea of NCLB is to make sure that ALL students learn. I agree, some studetns are not learning what they should because of certain situations in the school with teachers or administrators. But I feel that it needs to be addressed that good teachers are being punished because of the testing that must go on. While schools that are making no progress need to be changed, I feel that there is another approach to changing schools. Make other suggestions to them to try to improve the schools instead of closing them down immediately. Education is all about learning and improving so why shut down the opportunity to learn, make improvements!
No learing is being done when there is too much pressure on testing and scores and this is only defeating the purpose of NCLB. Isn\’t the whole idea for all students to learn the same amount? How are students going to learn when everything that is being taught is rushed and is not taught in detail? I know that myself as an adult would definately not learn anything from a teaching rushing me to finish an assignment or pressuring me to do well on a test or a certain assignment \”We have to learn this!\” would not motivate me to learn as a student.
Overall, I feel that there needs to be less pressure on testing expectations. I have learned several things over the past five years about education and one of them is that students learn through hands-on activities and performance based assessment is more accurate. If there were less pressure on teachers I feel that more learning would take place and more goals would be reached in education. Education is a top priority and I feel this is something that should be looked and and discussed carefully in order for more positive results in a child\’s education.
This post was submitted by Michelle Goodlaxson.
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