Essay about Schools Must Reduce Their Use of Standard Tests

I’m sure you have felt personally victimized by the law of No Child Left Behind and some sort of state-mandated standardized testing. Growing up in Pennsylvania, we had the PSSA’s, 4 Sights, and Keystone Exams. They always had felt trivial, but they did serve some purpose as far as immediate impact to our school days. The use of standardized testing as a quantitative tool of measuring student’s performance took off in 2002 with the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (â€Å"Standardized Tests,†2003). Standardized testing was part of the initiative to become the highest academically ranked country in the world, surpassing the current highest ranked country of China. The ultimate goal of NCLB was to ensure that all students score a†¦show more content†¦Sometimes, teaching to the test may not be as terrible as we think. Having standardized testing focus on essential content and skills that student’s need to master to be prosperous in society is what should be the basis of NCLB. (â€Å"Standardized Tests,† 2003). The exams should also provide good insight as to what subjects schools need to focus more forms of remediation on to improve the education standards of students (â€Å"Standardized Tests,† 2003). Standardized testing also helps schools that desp erately need extra funding. When used for the RIGHT reasons, this extra funding gives tremendous advantage to the students in general; especially those who are economically disadvantaged. With all these controversies over NCLB and standardized testing, it makes you wonder how the most educated country in the world is able to successfully utilize standardized testing. I started researching China’s academic policies, and what I found was surprisingly normal. One of the most recent education reforms passed in China seems uncommonly liberal for such a conservative country. New rules such as no homework, reducing testing, and the prevention of expediting the process of learning seem so mind-bottling simple (Strauss, 2013). What makes them so much more academically prosperous than us? Personally, I think it has a lot to do with our mismatch of culture. In our every-man-for-himselfShow MoreRelatedCommon Core Ineffectiveness1022 Words   |  5 PagesThe Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was first implemented in 2010, nine years after I graduated from high school. Although I wasn’t personally affected by the new academic standards, it has a direct impact on the current and future generation of leaders, innovators, and world changers including my future children. The initial purpose of the Common Core Standards is to set high-quality learning goals designed to prepare students to be college and career ready. Given the current controversies surroundingRead MoreThe Harmful Effects of No Child Left Behind1420 Words   |  6 Pagespublic schools by introducing accountability. Supporters of the act claim that it will increase the performance of all school children by raising the standards and allowing parents greater freedom in choosing the school they want their child to attend. The act also puts in place a system of punishment for schools if their student body does not perform to the standards set down by the National government (NCLB act). As well as increasing standards, this act also encourages teachers to use a curriculumRead MoreCommon Core Should Be Enforced Across The United States1523 Words   |  7 Pagesidea, it is unnecessary , that America has done just fine without it. The Common Core is not working how it should and schools should go back to the way it was before. Many professors and researchers agree that the Common Core does not work and might even be hurting the youth of America. Parents who disagree with the Common Core have started pulling their children out of public school resulting in national education to be even less standardized, which is the opposite affect than what the Common CoreRead MoreInstructional Practices for Standards-Based Curriculum Essay1575 Words   |  7 PagesFOR STANDARDS-BASED Instructional Practices for Standards-Based Curriculum Brandi R. Woods Grand Canyon University EDA 561 - Curriculum Development for School Improvement October 24, 2010 Instructional Practices for Standards-Based Curriculum George W. Bush put into action the No Child Left Behind Act to ensure that all children were giving the right education and succeeding. With this, many states adopted a standard-based curriculum approach that required for all schools to haveRead MoreThe No Child Left Behind Act1124 Words   |  5 Pages(NCLB) was authorized by and signed into law in 2002. NCLB was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. NCLB was meant to hold schools to higher standards, enforce accountability, and close achievement gaps that had existed in education since ESEA was enacted. Nevertheless, the rigorous standards and goals set forth under NCLB were never attained. ESEA Flexibility could be attained from the U.S. Department of Education starting in 2012. The accountability plansRead MoreEssay on Aca Task 302.2.3-01-081674 Words   |  7 Pages1. The most advantageous filing status for spouse A and spouse B to use is married filing jointly. 1. Spouse A and B may only choose from the married filing jointly or married filing separately statuses. Under married filing separately the spouses would start accruing taxes against their income sooner. For example under married filing separately a spouse would only be able to earn $8,925.00 of taxable income before they would be progressed to the next tier of the income tax bracket. Under marriedRead MoreImproving Student Performance While Addressing Student Learning Needs774 Words   |  4 Pagestalented students. It makes sometimes difficult for teachers to meet all students needs. Some of the students are learning quickly and some – need extra help and extra time. How can a teacher help students to reach the same academic goals and standards? Probably, data-driven instruction, an efficient approach when students’ performance data is used to improve their learning, might become the solution. March (2006) defines data-driven instructions as the systematic collection, analysis, and applicationRead MoreStandardized Tests With End Of Year Subject Tests1575 Words   |  7 Pagesmoment in the high school. She needed to walk around the stage to the flash of the cameras and the smiles of her family like her classmates. So she collected her proud family members form the Chicago and Washington to come to share in her joy. 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A;P Short Story 2 Free Essays

A P â€Å"AP† written by John Updike is a short story about a young boy named Sammy. He was 19 years old and he was working at AP mini market. One day, there were three girls shopping at the store wearing bikinis, and Sammy was surprised yet adore these three girls, until one day he quitted his job because he wanted to be their hero, but unfortunately, the girls didn’t even see him. We will write a custom essay sample on A;P: Short Story 2 or any similar topic only for you Order Now John Updike was trying to describe Sammy as a typical youth who is trying to get some attention. At the beginning of the story, Updike didn’t really describe Sammy. Otherwise, he described more of the girls whom Sammy was looking at. But, along his writing, readers could conclude about Sammy’s physical look. Another thing is that Sammy had his job as a cash register in AP store, and from the way Updike had written, readers could conclude that Sammy doesn’t really like his job. He calls one of his customers a â€Å"witch† and says the other customers are â€Å"houseslaves† and â€Å"sheep. † But what makes him more hate his job is the cash-register-watcher: â€Å"She gives me a little snort in passing, if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem† (303). This shows how much Sammy hates her. In addition, Sammy is sexist. He gives long, loving descriptions of the girls who cause all the trouble. 1 Moreover, Sammy does experience growth through the course of the story. In fact, Updike clearly described it, as when Sammy decided to quit his job: â€Å"So I say â€Å"I Quit† to Lengel quick enough for them to hear† (308). The reader won’t expect this to be happened, but Sammy made a shocking decision by quitting his job just for the girls he’d just knew. But maybe, the reason was not just because of the girls, but also because he had enough of Lengel, and he felt he had enough for all the things he never wanted to but, but he had to. Yes, Sammy was doing his job because his parents were the friends of the store manager, Lengel: â€Å"He’s been a friend of my parents for years† (309). He learned about life, and prepared for the rough road that lies ahead. The most important part of Updike’s story is when Sammy quitted his job. Even Sammy finally knew that the girls were not heard what he said, but he continue to do what he had spilled. Updike is trying to insert some moral value here through Sammy. When Sammy said: â€Å"But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it is fatal not to go through with it† (309). In addition, by this event, Updike is also wants to reveal that these days, boys will do anything for the girls they like, just like Sammy. Moreover, Sammy knew that when he made that decision, everything will be much harder for him: â€Å"And my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter† (310). But he realizes that he had done the right thing and what was done had to be done. Moreover, Sammy also indicated that he didn’t want to end up like Stokesie, who was married with two kids, and will probably work in the store for the rest of his life in order to support his family. Stokesie suggests what Sammy 2 might become if he were to continue to work at the A;P. For this, Sammy is adapted to a change in his life by resigning as a cashier at A ; P. Towards the end of the story when he announces that he is quitting, he goes on to say: â€Å"a couple customers that had been heading for my slot begin to knock against each other, like scared pigs in a chute† (309). Readers may have sympathetic feelings of Sammy, because he dare to take actions even that he knew that everything will be much harder for him. It never even crossed his mind that he would quit his job because of girls. In the other hand, readers may not realize that Sammy would go far beyond. But what he had done was realistic, because people always do something that they realize will ruin their life ahead, in other words, people sometimes do craps in their life. Thus, Sammy, the first person narrator, plays an essential role in portraying an in depth viewpoint of the story. His portrayal of a typical teen working in a dead-end job, his thoughts and feelings are very obvious in the story â€Å"A P. † He develop through out the story, he did some outstanding decision that the reader would not expect. 3 Work Cited Updike, John. â€Å"A;P†. A Pocketful of Prose: Vintage Short Fiction Volume 1. Madden, David. Boston: Thomson Higher Education, 2006. 4 How to cite A;P: Short Story 2, Papers

Mad Cow Diease Essay Example For Students

Mad Cow Diease Essay Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease (BSE), degenerative brain disorder of cattle. Symptoms in cows include loss of coordination and a typical staggering gait. Affected animals also show signs of senility, for example, lack of interest in their surroundings, the abandonment of routine habits, disinterest in feed and water, or unpredictable behavior. Affected cattle show symptoms when they are three to ten years old. First identified in Britain in November 1986, over 170,000 cases have since been recorded there. Sporadic incidences have been confirmed in other European countries, with Switzerland (over 260 cases) and Ireland (over 260 cases) identifying the largest number. It has also been recognized in Canada, where cases are confined to dairy cows imported from Britain. BSE has not been officially confirmed in the United States or any other major milk-producing country. Autopsies of affected cattle reveal holes in the brain tissue that give it a spongy, or spongiform, texture. Similar spongiform diseases have been recognized in humans (for example, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD) for over a century and in sheep (scrapie) for over 200 years. The cause of BSE is unproven, although there is strong evidence that prions, which may be infective proteins, are the agent. Other hypotheses suggest that prions work with an as yet undetected virus to cause the infection. Recycled animal tissue, which had been routinely fed to British dairy cows as a protein supplement, was identified as the source of the infection. The European Commissions Scientific Veterinary Committee and the world control body, the Fdration Internationale des Epizooties (FNE) believes that BSE was originally spread from sheeps brains infected with scrapie and that its spread was accidentally accelerated by the ingestion of brain tissue taken from cows that had become infected with BSE. Following through with this fodder transmission theory, the British government introduced compulsory destruction of suspect animals and their carcasses beginning in 1988. The feeding of animal tissue to cows was banned in Britain in July 1988 and since mid-1992, monitors working for the United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture have recorded a persistent decline in the number of confirmed cases. It is estimated that the program will eradicate BSE in Britain by the end of 1999. Since the initial report of the disease, there has been fear and speculation that it might be transferable to humans through milk or beef products. The appearance of CJD in several dairy farmers in Britain in the early 1990s heightened the alarm. The medical community was aware of the similarity of CJD symptoms to those of BSE and the documented fact that a related disease, known as kuru, was spread by ritualistic cannibalism among New Guinea tribesmen. In late 1990, consumer concern over the transmission of BSE to humans triggered a temporary drop in British beef consumption. A similar scare struck Germany in mid-1994. In late March 1996 the British Ministry of Health announced the discovery of 10 cases of a newly described type of fatal CJD (new variant CJD, or nvCJD) in which the victims had distinct brain tissue symptoms, were all under the age of 42, and had no hereditary record of the disease. The government admitted that the victims may have contracted the disease through contact with BSE-infected cattle before the eradication of suspected animals had taken effect. The announcement represented an about-face in the stance of the government, which had previously denied any possible link between BSE and human disease. Following the British governments announcement, beef consumption plummeted in Britain and the European Union banned British beef imports worldwide. At least 16 countries from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia initiated independent bans. In the United States, the Department of Agriculture made plans to step up its testing of cattle for BSE, although the disease has never bee n reported in U.S. cattle. British beef has been banned in the U.S. since 1989. Although the hypothesis of the cattle-to-human transmission path is not yet proven, it has been strengthened by the results of two studies released in 1997. Laboratory mice injected with brain tissue from BSE-infected cows and another group injected with brain tissue from nvCJD-infected humans both developed the same symptoms of brain degeneration, such as walking abnormally; moreover, for both groups, the infection was ultimately fatal. In addition, researchers found the same prion strain in both groups of mice. In one of the studies,researchers injected a third group of mice with tissue from humans who had died of classical CJD; these mice developed no symptoms and survived the trial. In early 1998 scientists found that the suspected disease agent, prion protein, appears not only in the brain tissue of infected humans but also in other organs and in blood. Subsequently there has been a growing concern that nvCJD might be transmitted through blood products-for example, components of human serum used for vaccines in children. In 1998 the British government announced that a large number of blood products will be tested to determine whether they might be infected with the disease. A ban on the export of British blood products, as well as of a blood protein called albumin, may eventually follow. .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .postImageUrl , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:hover , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:visited , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:active { border:0!important; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:active , .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2f6aa0b2230bab202ba227f1a9adeade:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Asian Families EssayWords/ Pages : 848 / 24