Standardized Testing on Special Education Students
The debate on the effect of standardized testing on the students which special needs are one of the most controversial issues to engulf the education sector in the united states. Standardized testing is the manner of testing where administration and scoring are done in a consistency. The testing is done in a pattern such that the terms of administration, the questions, interpretations and scoring procedures are consistent, scored and administered in a predetermined manner (Reich, 2014). Therefore, this paper will discuss why students with special needs should not undertake to standardized testing in examinations.
It is unreasonable that students with special needs to be treated the same way as students as learner enabled students. This is because standardized testing does not consider the many external factors but only factors performance of one day. This system of evaluation, therefore, does not consider that not all students will perform well in standardized tests and there are factors which contribute to the overall performance of the students. Students with special needs face many challenges, and therefore, there could be times when they are not at their best. This, therefore, will lead to them posting poor grades which in turn would be used for their promotion to the next level or awarding of certificates ("Current Status of Transition Preparation Among Youth With Special Needs in the United States," 2013).
Many of the teachers who facilitate standardized testing teach students only for the purposes of passing the tests. Therefore, it is a disadvantage to the students because it does not cater students who can grasp the baseline of the concepts being taught in class. This approach of learning, which is oriented towards standardized testing would therefore have a detrimental impact on the overall performance of the students with special needs (Verstehen, 2011). In this sense, teachers are under pressure to post good results with their students and therefore are more inclined to abandon students with special needs.
People with special needs usually undergo many challenges in life, and due to the disabilities, which they have, they are weighed down by it. The pressure to pass the standardized testing, therefore, puts undue stress and pressure to the students and teachers. It worse to students with learner disability because they are prone to failure in the tests, which would lead to level retention and culminate to school dropouts (Verstehen, 2011). What happens to most of the students is that they lose the motivation to learn and the pressure to pass examination aggravates their disability which might make them hate themselves.
In conclusion, students which special needs are disadvantaged by standardized testing. This is because it does not consider the external factors which affect education and times examination and that these students are not exposed to the baseline contents which they understand. Due to the challenges which they face makes students and failure in the tests increase retention rates which induce school dropping out. Therefore, students with special needs should not be subjected to standardized testing.
References
Current Status of Transition Preparation Among Youth With Special Needs in the United States. (2013). PEDIATRICS, 131(6), X8-X8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-3050d
Reich, G. (2014). Round and Round We Go: The Origins of Standardized Testing in the United States. Theory & Research In Social Education, 42(3), 440-444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2014.939054
Verstehen, D. (2011). Public education finance systems in the United States and funding policies for populations with special educational needs. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 19, 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v19n21.2011
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