Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sociology of Education: Standardized Tests

Know: The purpose of the standardized tests.

Understand: The controversy over the exit exam

Be able to do: Socratic Circle
                      Distinguish between fact and opinion

Step 1: Should seniors be held back in school if they can not pass a high school exam? Explain

Step 2: Read two of the essays from "Room for Debate" segment on "What school tests measure?"


Step 3: Distinguish between what is fact and what is opinion in the two blog posts. Be sure to mention which articles you find your details in.

Step 4: Participate in one Socratic Seminar and evaluate one seminar.

Step 5: Respond on the blog:

Should seniors be held back in school if they can not pass a high school exam? Explain

Use facts and opinions from the text to support your claims.

5 comments:

Christine said...

Seniors should not be held back if they did not pass the high school exam because how do you expect a person to remember everything that they have learned since 9th grade. There is way too much to remember. In one of the articles today I read that only 25% of kids from one school earned a proficient on their tests. Thats only 1/4 of the school. Very few people can actually remember what they learned in 9th grade.

Dijon said...

No, i do not think that students should be held back for failing a standardized test. i think they should not be held back because because the only reason why schools have such high and important test in high school, is for college. so, there is no real reason why students should be held back in high school, if they can not pass that test.
students that take a standardized test also may not have been bad students. these students may just have problems taking such a stressful test. that does not mean that students are failing their high school classes, it just means they struggled with a test.
i believe that if a student can prove to college or high school that they know the knowledge, then they should be allowed to move on with their lives.

Anonymous said...

I don't think they should be held back, I think they should be asked to demenstrate their knowledge in another way, like a project or an essay. The tests are not designed to be easy, and it is hard to remember back to early high school math, but the majority of subjects are dependant on the easier topics. Take math for example, you cannot skip from algebra to calculus. In order for it to make sence you need to have taken geometry and trig.
I think for it to be fair to the students, multiple options as to how to take the test should be offered, because no two people are the same. I also think the political side of it should be eliminated. Polititians tweeking tests and making it seem like there is so much progress when there is none isn't right. The students deserve tests that will prepare them for the future, not political BS that makes someone look good.

-Emily Nail

Anonymous said...

Cheyenne-
High school students should not be held back if they could not pass the test. I believe that all students should be given a chance. They should be given an alternitive. If students cant pass a test then they should be given somthing a little more simpler so students wouldnt have to stay back. Not all students are good testers and not all students remember things for a while back.

Anonymous said...

High school seniors should be held back for not passing the high school exit exam. I myself took the exam and passed it with no problem. Not only is the exam given well before senior year, the students have ample time to study and they are given multiple attempts at passing. The exam is continuously "dumbed down" so that more and more students can pass the exam. Rather than making the test easier, why not make our students smarter?