Schools must be held accountable for
the success of all students. Instead of focusing
on standardized test scores, however, students would benefit more if schools focused on reliable
predictors of future student success. More accurate predictors of success are GPA and cognitive skills. Researchers
argue that GPA may be a strong predictor
of success due to its ability to capture content knowledge and skills critical to success, such as perseverance and
self-control.
A 2014 study conducted by William C. Hiss and Valerie W. Franks examined the outcomes of optional standardized testing policies at 33 public and private colleges and universities. They concluded that standardized tests are more likely to decrease the number.
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/Indicators_of_Success-BGH_ac5-final.pdf
Whew!
Allow me to jump into my experience. In High School I barely passed. And, in essence, my own experience with standardized tests describes me as being mildly retarded.
Yet, when going into college I was listed on the "Dean's List" several times, despite the grades in high school, which were barely over a "D." Yet I pulled a 3.5/4.0 GPA in college.
Was I retarded somehow during high school, or was I seeing the world in a non-conventional way? I believe the latter.
Testing doesn't cut it. Indeed, I wound up majoring in psychology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, a tough science oriented school. I pulled an overall 3.6/4.0 GPA and co-authored a study regarding memory that was published in the science journal, Nature.
And, I was considered borderline retarded by the tests!
But is it being retarded or do we all have different styles of intelligences? From the time I have memory, I recognized sexuality, women and men, as being reflections of cosmic process that were mirror images of one another. In the mirror, left is right and right is left. What are in opposition are reflections of one another. Thus the command, "judge not lest ye be judged." Again, in judgment, one winds up judging his or her self.
What we are doing to our children is making them a mess. Spontaneity and creativity are not given credence in a "teach to the test" environment. Yet, as per the questioning of standardized testing speaks, "Teaching to the tests are making our children dumber". To that I would say that our children's creativity, be it in their mind or in their works, are a form of intelligence.
Indeed, there are websites stating creativity is about connection, action, and deviation. I love the latter. Can you see deviation as being normal and not standardized education? Ah, those bad boys and girls who are deviant from the norm. Thumbs up to them! http://www.slideshare.net/jted/chaos-and-creativity/13-E_lements_of_Creativity_conne.
Create and reward a "norm" and you move us toward robotization, not full, fluent, resilient, responsible humanization.
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