Edwards 1
Ms. Brittni Delmaine
English III 1st Period
September 24, 2014
The current era's education is known to be defined by students themselves, including their academic success, the value of educators and instructional quality in America, learning standards adopted by each individual state, anxiety, the role played by parents outside of a school setting, and much more. Most Americans believe that student's standardized test scores are the only legitimate indicator of a school's efficiency. Since 1965, when the United States Elementary and Secondary Education Act became a law, standardized testing has been used to evaluate American public schools. The ultimate goal of standardized testing is to examine how well teachers are preparing students and to improve student achievement. Some people would argue that standardized testing accomplishes the goal of examining educators, allowing them to better their skills for the future, while others would argue that the idea of standardized testing damages the educational system altogether.
The leading debate that concerns most, but is brushed off by many, is whether the success of standardized testing should be used to indicate a student's, teacher, and/or school's capabilities.
The key objective of the American educational system is for every student to graduate from high school, college and career ready. In 1959, when Everet Lindquist launched the American College Test (ACT), it was "designed as a test of student's general educational development and could be used with other criteria to predict student success at the college level." After the launching of this well-known assessment, testing was being put in use in many educational settings. In 1954, as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's, "War on Poverty" , the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was introduced. This act was reauthorized in 2001, which is now known as No Child Left...