Elkhatib 9. Suzanne Elkhatib. Standardizing Academic Failure.

Elkhatib 9 Suzanne Elkhatib Standardizing Academic Failure In an effort to determine the quality of an educational institution, from the quality of the educators to the outcomes of the curriculum, standardized testing was introduced. The intention of evaluating the quality of education was to make certain that all students received an adequate education and that all educators were held accountable to their students. Extensive research was conducted to determine the criteria that would be evaluated including the types of learning outcomes that were expected for each grade level, what demographics information would be assessed, and how to rank the schools and educators based on the results. While much of this information has been gathered†¦show more content†¦In fact, â€Å"skeptics have begun to wonder if the effort to raise standards for all students through high-stakes testing initiatives has too steep a price, including a narrowing of the curriculum and a deemphasis on curricular depth, an abandonme nt of constructivist-type activities that give meaning to learning, and a curtailment of extracurricular activities† (Moon, Callahan, and Tomlinson 1). Limiting the educators’ autonomy prevents them from being able to evaluate the needs of each student and structure their classroom and lesson plans in a manner that will help all of the students to gain the best possible outcomes in their academic careers. Students have different styles of learning, varying family structures and support, as well as different interests that can all effect how they learn. Standardizing the classroom removes the educators’ abilities to use their training to address these differences. Notably, standardized testing was once used to provide educators with an additional tool in this process of individualizing the curriculum. Researcher, Alfie Kohn, notes that these tests were often used to determine what classroom a student should be placed in so that they could be matched with an educat or and curriculum that would help them to progress towards their next level of academic success rather than to be used as a ploy to hold them