A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a consistent manner. The test is designed in a way that the “situations, questions for administering, scoring methods, and interpretations are consistent” and are “administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.”
Relationship between Standardized Testing and NCLB
No child left behind legislation has made a sequence of claims in helping the kids, schools and parents, especially in poor communities and through the aspects of the new law. The federal government under the Act of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has given authorization that about all 91,000 school in United States are to be rated on the basis of standardized test scores.
Lack of Resources to Support Schools
The act has used achievement gaps to label schools as failures, though it has not provided resources or support to remove them. The law declares that 100 percent students will be proficient on state tests by 2014. This is an unrealistic thing. These numbers have been calculated by political campaigns which state that universal public schooling for all kids will change through an appropriate educational strategy.
The unequal test scores are one of the indicators of school performance. There are about 10 percent of white children who are poor, 35 percent of black and Latino children who are poor. Test scores not only score school performance but also reflect the other unequal resources and occasions which exists in larger society and schools. Few politicians turn down the opportunity to make the problems of poor schools into a campaign to destroy public education.
This law also has given the rights to the parents to take their students and money out of the struggling schools. But there is no guarantee whether they will have a new place to go or not. The new law increases class size by the transfer of students without creating new capacity.
The act does not make investments to construct new school buildings in poor districts. A rich district does not allow the admission of students of poor districts. And the poor parents have no control on school bureaucracies.
Real Intention of NCLB
NCLB law has failed in making serious headway to lift academic achievement. They are supposed to lift the basic skills of the young child, but this policy has failed in lifting the 21st century skills for the latest economy. It’s a “supply-side” scheme designed to create a demand for vouchers and it finally transfers fund and students to profit-making private school corporations.