Conversational topics that get you excited, or news stories that make your blood boil or get you laughing out loud, are likely to be provide good fodder for essays.
2. What was one idea the writer gave in the Opinions Pieces section that you should remember as you are writing your piece?
Avoid using abstract expressions and phrases such as “the best day of my life”, “my happiest moment as a parent”, “I’d never known greater grief” to describe emotions of love, loss, anger, joy, satisfaction, etc.
3. List three suggestions the writer makes in the Personal Essays and Crafts section that you will use as you write.
A. No extra points for the number of facts you include.
B. Write as evocatively as possible.
C. In a personal essay you have the freedom to think what you like on a subject, but your reader should go away with a good idea of why you feel that way.
Standardized Testing Opinion Piece
Standardized tests have been apart of the US education system since the start of the US. The majority of the population thinks that these tests are a crucial part of the education system. However, standardized tests shouldn't be a thing and here's why.
Standardized testing has not helped students be successful. The No Child Left Behind Act was an act that required all states to test student in Reading and Math. After the NCLB Act was passed, the US dropped 13 places on the PISA scale. This show that the tests aren't helping students. They are just making it harder for teachers as they have to teach required points and more stressful for students.
Standardized tests are an unreliable and inaccurate way to measure student growth and performance. A study published by the Brookings Institution found that up to 80% of year-over-year test score improvements were temporary and "caused by fluctuations that had nothing to do with long-term changes in learning...". This shows that the skills students are learning are being taught just so the student remembers long enough to score well on tests. These skills won't help students in real life.
Standardized tests are unfair to those with learning disorders or disadvantages. Students whose first language isn't english still have to take the same test as those who have been learning it their whole life. The same goes for students with learning disabilities, they have to take the same test as those who don't have disabilities.
Standardized tests only measure a small part of what students need to know. In my school, we only have standardized tests in half of our classes. If we are pursuing a career in a certain subject, we should be tested over that subject to make sure we are learning the correct content.
Standardized testing causes an unhealthy amounts of stress to students. According to education researcher Gregory J. Cizek,"testing produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both." The Sacramento Bee reported that "test-related jitters, especially among young students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it." Similar instructions for vomit-full test booklets are on many test nation wide.
Testing is expensive and costs have increased since NCLB. According to the Texas Education Agency, the state spent $9 million in 2003 to test students, while the cost to Texas taxpayers from 2009 through 2012 is projected to be around $88 million per year.
The billion dollar testing industry is notorious for making costly and time-consuming scoring errors. NCS Pearson, which has a $254 million contract to administer Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test, delivered the 2010 results more than a month late and their accuracy was challenged by over half the state's superintendents. After errors and distribution problems in 2004-2005, Hawaii replaced test publisher Harcourt with American Institutes for Research, but the latter had to re-grade 98,000 tests after students received scores for submitting blank test booklets.
Standardized test’s cons out-weigh the pros by a long shot. Let's get rid of standardized tests.
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