This article discusses the detrimental effects of high stakes testing on the health and well-being of students. It explores the arguments for and against the testing system and proposes alternative measures.
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High stakes testing should be abolished Student Name University Name Student Note 1.
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What underlying issues of health promotion and wellbeing are being debated? In accordance to the points shared by the two participating teams in the debate, high stake testing, even though highly crucial for testing the overall academic progress of individual students as well as respective schools, has been observed to have a detrimental effect on psychological, cognitive as well as physical well-being of the students. High stake tests, responsible for facilitating the evaluation of the extent of acquired academic knowledge of students has been found to cause an increased negative impact rather than a positive outcome for the self-improvement of the students (Howell , 2017). There has been an increased incidence of anxiety and stress among the students, mainly due to the stress imposed by parents, teachers and to an extent high stake testing programs like NAPLAN (National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy), on the students to score well in these tests. Continued imposition of stress has rendered the youth to acquire psychological and physical stress and the lack of stress management among them has made the situation even more alarming. This has also resulted in the rise of behavioural and cognitive difficulties and issues among the youth. The tests have been found to further facilitate comparison of the student’s abilities in schools, leading to increased test anxiety among the students, so much that many are found to often drop-out of their schools. The students as a result often feel highly unmotivated and always under undue stress causing significant deterioration to their overall health and well-being. The tests have even caused severe anxiety disorders among the students forcing them to take drastic measures at the expense of their lives. According to supporters, what aspects have been positive in addressing the issue? According to the supporters of the argument of abolishing the system of high stake testing like NAPLAN, it has been found to be responsible for the increased prevalence of stress and anxiety disorders among the students studying the Australian Curriculum. Despite the method’s contribution in assessing the extent of academic knowledge among the students as well as the effectiveness of the schools in providing quality education as per the Australian Curriculum, it has been unsuccessful in motivating students to gain more knowledge apart from their curriculum. The increased existing
diversity of the students taking these standardised tests has contributed to the lack of its success in providing the accurate result of the extent of their academic knowledge. These tests have been found to increase the incidence of anxiety and stress disorders, hampering the overall well-being and health of the students. Test anxiety has been detrimentally affecting the psychological, cognitive as well as to an extent, physical development of the students. The pressure of performing well in the tests have not only hindered with the morals of students but also with the ethics of teachers as they have been found to be manipulating tests results to improve the overall performance of the associated schools (Thompson & Cook, 2014). The teachers have been opting for content driven streamlined lessons rather than encouraging the students to gain deeper learning of the key topics discussed. The whole ordeal of preparing and conducting the tests have been deemed as highly time consuming by 82% of teachers participating in a survey conducted (Polesel et al., 2014). In many cases, teachers have been found to advise the underperforming students to be absent on the days these tests were taken. This can further increase the stress among the students leading to significantdecreasein theirconfidence.The tests are thus oftenfoundto create a negative environment of comparison between the students as well as the schools leading to severe deprivation of quality education. Considering a survey conducted to help understand the overall efficacy of the high stakes tests, it was evident how negatively these influenced the Australian curriculum and academic conduct (Polesel et al., 2014). According to those in opposition, what aspects of the issue still require attention, or are not currently being addressed adequately? According to the opposing team, who argued that high stake testing is highly crucial for the benefit of the Australian curriculum and academic conduct, these tests help facilitate the process of self- improvement in the students. They argued that tests like NAPLAN help determine the educational outcomes of the students as well as the overall performance of the different schools (NAP, 2016). This helps the public understand how the students and schools are performing and can ensure that the
Australian education system is held accountable for the results and the Australian Curriculum is modified according in accordance to them. The system helps the schools identify their strengths and weaknesses and allows effective monitoring of the changes imposed on them (Callingham, 2008). The opposing team believes that the process of frequent undertaking of tests can improve their ability to effectively learn more and will improve their test taking abilities.They believe taking these tests would help the students improve their ability to manage stress effectively (Munoz, 2014). One key feature of these high stake tests is the lack of incorporation of grades and scores in the system. The system is a formative assessment that helps in the determining the academic progression of individual students in accordance to the national standards. These methods aim to help the students as well as the teachers and the schools understand and determine the areas they would need to improve, by highlighting their mistakes accurately (Viestra, 2015). High stake tests can thus track the progress of students without imposing any judgement on them with respect to their performance in the tests. The tests also enable the Australian schools identify the students who require additional support and accordingly design special programs for them in order to help them understand their curriculum easily. What fallacies of reasoning emerge from the debate? Considering the points discussed by the opposing team, the system of high stakes testing is supposed to help the students and the schools understand and determine the areas they would require to improve on. However the surveys indicate that the tests can be held accountable for the increased stress and anxiety among the students, which is mainly due to the pressure of scoring lower ranks in these standardised, comparative tests. Thus, comparing the abilities of the students has not only facilitated the increase in the incidence of psychological, cognitive and physical disorders among the students but also has amplified the incidence of unethical and immoral conducts in academic institutions by both students as well as teachers (Ball, 2003). Even though the opponent team stated that the system aims to help the students as well as the teachers, by highlighting the areas they would need to improve
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in,withoutanyjudgement,thisinevitablywillcreateaplatformwhichwouldfacilitatethe judgements as well as negative emotions surrounding the increased variation in the abilities of the students. They also claimed that the test will help the students manage their stress effectively, however, evidence states otherwise. The poor stress and anxiety management among the students have been seen to be the reason behind increased suicides as well as other self-harming activities, recently. The team supporting the argument has stated that the tests are standardised and fail to accurately and effectively assess the academic knowledge of the students as well as success of the schools in implementing the Australian curriculum correctly. However, their argument fails to provide any effective alternative measure that could replace the existing testing strategies and methods. What alternative policy/ programs have been proposed or might be developed? The alternative measures that were discussed in the debate, even though not effective enough to replace the entire system, can help bring a positive influence on this system of high stakes testing. The debate highlighted the inefficacy of the system to assess the quality of a diverse group of students by standardised tests and suggested that the schools focused more on quality learning rather than marginalising certain subjects in order to focus more on content driven subjects to help the students score well in these tests. Thus, this could result in the potential biasness against perceived value. They also suggested that the diverse group of students with varied preferences, could be given enough time to help grasp the key concepts of each subject individually, facilitating the delivery of a broad and engaging curriculum (ACARA, 2019). The supporting team suggested that by talking some simple steps like frequently analysing the student’s progress rather than making them sit for a nation-wide standardised test, preventing the increase in marginalisation of subjects and by making the students interested in the curriculum by ensuring addition of subjects which would encourage them to explore different topics and learn more. According to them, the high stake tests should help provide an
academically and socially supportive environment, in order to not only nurture the interest of students to explore different subjects but most importantly to promote the overall well-being of the students. What implications does the debate have for the health and wellbeing of the Australian population? According to the statistics gathered in the survey conducted to help understand the efficiency of the system of high stakes testing, about 67% of the educators conveyed that the method of high stake testing had an inconsequential impact on student learning and 44% of respondents reported an increase in the incidence of student, parental as well as teacher stress (Thompson, 2013). This test induced anxiety and stress observed widely in students due to these tests have been observed to have caused a detrimental effect on the psychological, cognitive as well as physiological well-being of the students (Spielberg, 2015). These standardised, competitive tests thus can be held accountable for the stress induced suicides and self-harm incidences that can be observed in the recent Australian youth population. These test anxieties have been also responsible for the increased rates of school drop-outs among the student population (Cizek & Berg, 2006).High stake testing programs like NAPLAN (National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy), have also caused the students to feel highly unmotivated due to the prolonged incidence of peer pressure on them to rank well in these tests, thus rendering these tests highly ineffective in evaluating the academic knowledge of the students.
References Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2019). F-10 Curriculum: Implications for Teaching, Assessing and Reporting. Retrieved 21 August 2019, from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/implications-for-teaching- assessing-and-repo rting/ Ball,S.J.(2003).The teacher's souland the terrors ofperformativity.Journalofeducation policy,18(2), 215-228. Doi: 10.1080/0268093022000043065 Callingham, R. (2008). Dialogue and Feedback: Assessment in the Primary Mathematics Classroom. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 13(3), 18-21. Howell, A. (2017). ‘Because then you could never ever get a job!’: children’s constructions of NAPLANashigh-stakes.JournalofEducationPolicy,32(5),564-587.Doi: 10.1080/02680939.2017.1305451 Munoz, R. (2014). High Stakes Testing Pros and Cons | Education.com. Retrieved 26 August 2019, fromhttps://www.education.com/magazine/article/high-stakes-testing-pros-cons/ NAP. (2016). Retrieved 25 August 2019, fromhttps://www.nap.edu.au/ Polesel, J., Rice S., & Dulfer. N.(2014). The impact of high-stakes testing on curriculum and pedagogy: a teacher perspective from Australia, Journal of Education Policy, 29:5, 640-657, Doi: 10.1080/02680939.2013.865082 Spielberger, C. D., Anton, W. D., & Bedell, J. (2015). The nature and treatment of test anxiety. Emotions and anxiety: New concepts, methods, and applications, 317-344. Thompson, G. (2013). NAPLAN, MySchool and Accountability: Teacher perceptions of the effects of testing. International education journal: comparative perspectives, 12(2), 62-84. ISSN-1443- 1475
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Thompson, G., & Cook, I. (2014). Manipulating the data: Teaching and NAPLAN in the control society. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 35(1), 129-142 Viestra, G. (2015). Tests Without Grades: Learning Moments. Retrieved 30 August 2019, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2015/08/21/tests-without-grades-alcala