Should Istep and Common Core Standards Be Tested?

Young eyes, peeled to a computer, in a ghost-silent room. Knees shaking and keyboards clicking, their mind on dinner last night at Applebee’s instead of algorithms. The worries and thoughts of “Am I smart?”

Students in grade 3-12 take a mandatory test, twice a year called Istep. The test grades you on your understanding of the Common Core Standards.

According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, “The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live. To read more, visit http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/.

Recent questions on the mandatory state testing have arose,

According to Megan Trent; a writer for Fox 59, states that worries arise as 3rd graders are scheduled to test 9 ½ hours over a period of a few days. For 4th and 5th graders, the testing hours are even more rigorous! Even though the test hours are spread out, students have standardized tests lined up; such as, IREAD, SAT’s, SRI, and multiple other tests given throughout the year.

Students are told to “try your best and focus”. Most students find it difficult to take a prolonged test, clicking an empty circle, and staring at a dimly lit screen in a silent room, nerves, anxiety, and algorithms clouding their minds. 25% of teens suffer from anxiety, according to Elements Behavioral Health. That’s ¼ of all teens! Istep causes worse anxiety and worsens symptoms, from the disorder.

Istep is taken twice, once in the fall, and once in the spring. The time we take to review the common core standards, do checks to make sure the McGraw application works correctly, and actually takes time away from students to continue learning, and instead reviewing standards they already know.

Students feel the pressure and heat during the ISTEP. An 8th grade teacher at Blackhawk Middle School, feels strongly about ISTEP, “I feel it is unnecessary as it is used inappropriately and abusively towards the students, as the idea of standardized tests are used incorrectly!” Istep is used to test how well the teachers taught the students. The teachers are paid according to how well the students do. The Istep tests are graded through protractors who only skim the reading, looking for: length, paragraphing, grammar, and skim the reading to see if they wrote about the topic that was given. Each writing on the written portion of Istep is only looked at for on average, 2 minutes.

Columbia University makes point; “Standardized testing evaluates a student’s performance on one particular day and does not take into account external factors. There are many people who simply do not perform well on tests. Many of these students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn’t show on the test. Many students also develop test anxiety which hinders performance. Finally, there are so many external factors that play into test performance. If a student has an argument with their parents the morning of the test, chances are their focus isn’t going to be where it should be.”

Students are told to “try your best and focus”. Most students find it difficult to take a prolonged test, clicking an empty circle, and staring at a dimly lit screen in a silent room, nerves, anxiety, and algorithms clouding their minds. 25% of teens suffer from anxiety, according to Elements Behavioral Health. That’s ¼ of all teens! Istep causes worse anxiety and worsens symptoms, from the disorder.

Istep is taken twice, once in the fall, and once in the spring. The time we take to review the common core standards, do checks to make sure the McGraw application works correctly, and actually takes time away from students to continue learning, and instead reviewing standards they already know.

Istep takes freedom from teachers, as well. The teachers have to teach specific lessons within a certain period of time, forcing them to move quickly and teach the lessons in a rushed format. They don’t have as much freedom and time to construct in depth and fun lesson plans for their students. According to Columbia University, “Standardized testing holds teachers and schools accountable. Probably the greatest benefit of standardized testing is that teachers and schools are responsible for teaching students what they are required to know for these standardized tests. This is primarily because these scores become public record and teachers and schools who don’t perform up to par can come under intense scrutiny. This scrutiny can lead to the loss of job and in some cases a school can be closed or taken over by the state.”

Istep has many cons and takes away freedoms and injects worries and stress in its place. Teachers, school staff, and students feel the pressure from the test and cause more trouble than do good. For many reasons the public believes that Common Core Standard testing, more specifically should come to an end.

Should ISTEP Be Required?

Knees bouncing, hands shaky. Eyes peeled onto the screen, thinking, and “Am I smart?” Istep is an Indiana, state-wide test. Every student grade 3-12 is required to take the assessment to evaluate students’ intellect and see if they meet their grade’s common core standard. 

According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, “The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live. ” To read more, visit http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/. 

 

Recent questions on the mandatory state testing have arose, questioning on the length and on if the test’s results are used purposely. 

According to Megan Trent; a writer for Fox 59, states that worries arise as 3rd graders are scheduled to test 9 ½ hours over a period of a few days. For 4th and 5th graders, the testing hours are even more rigorous! Even though the test hours are spread out, students have standardized tests lined up; such as, IREAD, SAT’s, SRI, and multiple other tests given throughout the year.  

 

Students feel the pressure and heat during the ISTEP. An 8th grade teacher at Blackhawk Middle School, feels strongly about ISTEP, “I feel it is unnecessary as it is used inappropriately and abusively towards the students, as the idea of standardized tests are used incorrectly!” 

School Uniform Requirements at Blackhawk Middle School

Students at Blackhawk Middle School were just informed in their Language Arts classes that school uniforms are going to become mandatory after Labor Day weekend. Questions arose immediately, questioning the districts’ decision. The school’s new instructional coach, Mrs. Oaks relayed new code to the students and immediately following received backlash from the BMS students.

Questions rose and only few were answered. Cassidy Briggs spoke up, asking the simple questions of “Why?”

Mrs.Oaks answered with few words, “To relieve stress social stress and to help those families with financial struggles.”

Karina, an 8th grade students at BMS, made a logical response saying, “most parents went out and purchased their students clothes for the school year, and now have to go out and purchase more clothing.”

Each students seemed to take the new information differently. Some students talked of rebel, others began to sign and pass around a petition, some panicked, cried, and yelled in frustration. Questions still unanswered and we now wait for parents to react to the new dress code. Blackhawk is taking a social risk and it will be updated on a later date.

I’m A Reader

Over the summer I read several books. One book that I couldn’t seem to put down was ‘The 5th Wave.’ Its a dystopian style book, based on waves of an alien invasion, known as the ‘Others’. After an EMP wave, causing all electricity to go out, a tsunami, a deadly disease, and ‘silencers’, (others inhabiting human bodies and acting as bounties), the 5th wave struck. After Cassie’s brother ‘Nugget’ was swooped up by military personel, she made it her mission to get to him.

Ben, also known as ‘Zombie’ took nugget under his wing and found the truth about the ‘military’ base, after being deployed.

Cassie has a run on with a silencer, who saves her life, and the main characters in the book.

The ending keeps you on your toes, and i cant wait to continue the series!