The Absurdity of High Stakes Testing
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| About the Author: Amber Dawn Miley is a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is a future English teacher, a StuVoice activist, a hopeful author, and a self professed fangirl. |
Iowa Assesments, two words that make teachers cringe across the state. Throughout the nation, high-stakes testing is used to indicate whether students, teachers, administrators and even schools are up to par with the ever changing standards in education.
However, using these outdated methods of evaluation in an education system that is
attempting to push itself into the 21st century is inaccurate, inappropriate and unhealthy for all
who are subjected to them.
Each of these tests render down to a single number. The fact that the very same number
that decides the fate of so many people is completely absurd; teachers’ pay, school funding and
even the mental health of students are many of the things that depend on this silly number.
These silly numbers have caused some teachers and faculty across the nation to resort to
forging their students test scores in order to demonstrate an “improvement” that clearly never
existed, and to keep the amount of funding they were receiving.
When this act of desperation came into light, all the media ever spoke about was “bad
However, using these outdated methods of evaluation in an education system that is
attempting to push itself into the 21st century is inaccurate, inappropriate and unhealthy for all
who are subjected to them.
Each of these tests render down to a single number. The fact that the very same number
that decides the fate of so many people is completely absurd; teachers’ pay, school funding and
even the mental health of students are many of the things that depend on this silly number.
These silly numbers have caused some teachers and faculty across the nation to resort to
forging their students test scores in order to demonstrate an “improvement” that clearly never
existed, and to keep the amount of funding they were receiving.
When this act of desperation came into light, all the media ever spoke about was “bad