Samford University Standardized Testing and Issue Map Discussion Paper Issue Map Assignment goals To write an objective, balanced and well organized guid

Samford University Standardized Testing and Issue Map Discussion Paper Issue Map

Assignment goals

To write an objective, balanced and well organized guide that depends on and accurately incorporates secondary sources according to academic standards (e.g. MLA) to develop the positions of the topic.

Topic – Standardized Testing

Objectives:

·Objective perspective, accurately reporting the main positions (opposing) in a controversy.

Report will reflect full and balanced coverage of controversy.

·Maintaining an authorial voice (through organization and structure of paper) while handling extensive amounts of secondary sources.

·Effective use of secondary sources to develop points.

·Accurate citation and documentation according to best practices conforming to MLA standards.

The issue map is a substantial paper of 1,800 – 2,100 words (approximately 6-7 pages) that describes the controversy you’ve chosen to study. You’ve collected a large amount of information via numerous sources representing differing viewpoints related to your issue. It’s now time to integrate the material and describe the controversy.

General guidelines:

·Introduce the topic. State explicitly what the controversy is. Define important terms for the reader.

·Decide how you will organize the controversy. Two general possibilities:

describe the supporting side fully following by the opposing side.

compare and contrast specific points, point by point.

·Make your paper dynamic by focus on the arguments – the positions; don’t merely summarize sources one after another (there will probably be too much overlap anyway!).

·Be thorough. Make sure that you capture the strongest possible arguments on each side.

·Cite your individual sources under each point you are making as your support and evidence for each point.

·Be objective and neutral. This paper is not a place for your own position. You are not taking sides. You are not evaluating the relative merits of each position. You are presenting them as a map to the interested reader. You will not conclude this paper with a statement of which position you favor.

Like the annotated bibliography, this paper requires that you analyze and categorize carefully. Keep in mind the nuances of what makes positions distinct, even within a pro or con side (such as values, purpose).

Please follow the MLA guidelines for paper formatting and documentation. We will use in text citations with signal phrases and a works cited page. Issue Map
Understanding the Assignment
Issue Map
What is it?
Issue Map
What is it?
An objective guide to a controversial topic that represents each
point of view in the controversy and provides a full explanation
of the reasons for each point of view.
Issue Map
Assignment goals
To write an objective, balanced and well organized guide that
depends on and accurately incorporates secondary sources
according to academic standards (e.g. MLA) to develop the
positions of the topic.
Issue Map
Pre-writing
Develop an organizational framework for the paper.
Issue Map
Pre-writing
Develop an organizational framework for the paper.
Develop a reader profile. Who is the audience for the paper and
how will you adapt this report to this audience?
Issue Map
Drafting
Focus on the positions and reasons rather than the sources.
use the sources to support the positions. This is not a collection
of source summaries.
Issue Map
Drafting
Focus on the positions and reasons rather than the sources.
use the sources to support the positions. This is not a collection
of source summaries.
Be neutral and objective; your objective is to inform, not
persuade.
Issue Map
Rubric
•
•
•
•
•
Organization and Balance. (20%)
Thoroughness and development (20%)
Integration of source material (20%)
Objectivity, neutrality, and accuracy (20%)
Style and Mechanics (20%)
Standardized Testing
Author
Institution
STANDARDIZED TESTING
The assignment aims to investigate standardized testing, its effectiveness, its impact
on education and whether it serves to reward or punish both the teachers and the
students.
STANDARDIZED TESTING
? A standardized test requires all people being tested to provide the same answers for the
same questions or selected question from the same test paper.
? Standardized test ought to be scored in a standardized or consistent manner
? Standardized test specifies a certain set of standards or competencies for a given field or
domain and through construct validation process they develop a set of tasks designed to
evaluate and measure those competencies.
? Standardized test assumes certain criteria or standards objectives that are considered
constant across different test forms
? A good standardized test results from thorough empirical research process and
development
? It measures pupils and student mastery of competencies or standards that have been set
for specific grade level.
? Standardized offers objective means for determining incorrect and correct responses
OBJECTIVES OF STANDARDIZED TESTING
? According to researchers standardized test scores despite being used in schools are not the best predictors for teaching
effectiveness.
? The system of standardized testing does nothing to improve education for student despite it use in rewarding and
punishing teachers
? The objectives are to understand what standardized test
? Why they used and they pros and cons
? Pro: Standardized help schools to evaluate progress
? Pro: help pin point areas that needs improvement
? Pro: act as metric for learning
? Cons: impact on confidence
? Cons: pressure to teach what will be tested
? Cons: fails to provide student true capability picture
? Whether the test are effective
ASSIGNMENT GOALS
? To test how the standardized test shape and limit learning
? Identify how standardized testing contributes to severe dilemmas
? Identify how test exemption influences school and student academic performance
(Jennings et al. 2009)
? Influence of structure of test on the nature of high stake test (Hani Morgan, 2016)
DEVELOP AN ORGANIZATIONAL
FRAMEWORK FOR THE PAPER
? the research will be directed by the following thesis: Standardized test
contributes to misleading information on what the student know, causes low self
confidence and treats the teachers unfairly
? The research will offer insight on standardized test how it influences learning
? Pros and cons of standardized test
? Standardized test effectiveness
INTENDED AUDIENCE (PRE-WRITING)
? The targets audience for this research is broad and the target audience are those
people who are directly affected by standardized testing
? In particular targeted audiences are
? policy makers
? Parents
? Students
? Public education advocates
DRAFTING
? Standardized testing may provide loophole for biasness. According to Todd (2011)
book Making the grades he argues that some lecturers determines a student
grade before even seeing the test answers
? Standardized testing punishes the teachers rather than act as a reward system
? In support of standardized testing: Standardized testing offers a practical means
of administering uniform testing (In Buckley et al. 2018).
? Standardized encourages equality because of the uniform testing
DRAFTING
? Too much emphasis should not be placed on standardized testing
? Standardized test have good intentions so unrealistic goals should not be set as
this is detrimental to both student and teachers
? Standardized testing need to be made in consideration of student different
background
Jennings, Jennifer L., and Andrew A. Beveridge. “How Does Test Exemption Affect
Schools’ and Students’ Academic Performance?” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol.
31, no. 2, 2009, pp. 153–175. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25478691
Analyzing data from a large urban district in Texas, this study examines how high-stakes
test exemptions alter officially reported scores and asks whether test exemption has implications
for the academic achievement of special education students. Test exemption inflated overall
passing rates but especially affected the passing rates of African American and Hispanic students
because these students were more likely to be exempted. Furthermore, our results suggest that
tested special education students in Grades 3 through 8 performed better academically than they
would have if they were not tested. However, taking the high-stakes test provided no academic
benefit to special education students in Grades 9 through 11.
Au, Wayne. “High-Stakes Testing and Curricular Control: A Qualitative
Metasynthesis.” Educational Researcher, vol. 36, no. 5, 2007, pp. 258–267. JSTOR, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/30137912.
Using the method of qualitative metasynthesis, this study analyzes 49 qualitative studies to
interrogate how high-stakes testing affects curriculum, defined here as embodying content,
knowledge form, and pedagogy. The findings from this study complicate the understanding of the
relationship between high-stakes testing and classroom practice by identifying contradictory
trends. The primary effect of high-stakes testing is that curricular content is narrowed to tested
subjects, subject area knowledge is fragmented into test-related pieces, and teachers increase the
use of teacher-centered pedagogies. However, this study also finds that, in a significant minority
of cases, certain types of high-stakes tests have led to curricular content expansion, the integration
of knowledge, and more student-centered, cooperative pedagogies. Thus the findings of the study
suggest that the nature of high-stakes-test-induced curricular control is highly dependent on the
structures of the tests themselves.
Neill, D. Monty, and Noe J. Medina. “Standardized Testing: Harmful to Educational
Health.” The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 70, no. 9, 1989, pp. 688–697. JSTOR, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/20404001.
STERNBERG, ROBERT J., et al. “Standardized Testing.” Issues in Science and
Technology, vol. 19, no. 3, 2003, pp. 16–19. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43312315.
EPSTEIN, MARION G. “Standardized Tests Can Measure the Right Things.” The
Mathematics Teacher, vol. 66, no. 4, 1973, pp. 294–366. JSTOR, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/27959275.
National Council of Teachers of English. “How Standardized Tests Shape –and LimitStudent Learning”. A Policy Research Brief. NCTE,
https://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0242nov2014/CC0242PolicySt
andardized.pdf
Hani Morgan (2016) Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and
Teachers: A Bad Idea, The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and
Ideas, 89:2, 67-72, DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2016.1156628,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00098655.2016.1156628
In the twenty-first century, the use of standardized tests as the primary means to evaluate
schools and teachers in the United States has contributed to severe dilemmas, including
misleading information on what students know, lower-level instruction, cheating, less
collaboration, unfair treatment of teachers, and biased teaching. This article provides reasons for
the increased use in high-stakes testing and detail on the problems it causes. Also included are
possible solutions to alleviate the concerns associated with high-stakes testing.
KLEIN, ANA MARIA, et al. “Managing Standardized Testing in Today’s Schools.” The
Journal of Educational Thought (JET) / Revue De La Pensée Éducative, vol. 40, no. 2, 2006, pp.
145–157. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23767165.
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