Merits and Demerits of Proficiency Testing

The adoption of proficiency tests as opposed to social promotion by a number of cities has both its advantages and disadvantages. Since these tests will be done statewide, all schools will have to do the same tests and once the results are out, they will be ranked according to their performance. In this way, the schools with poor scores will get more attention from the state board of education, which will do all it can to ensure those schools make a turnaround and perform better.

In addition, since the standardized tests will be done by all students simultaneously, the score for each student will be assessed and the ones with low grades will benefit from personalized teaching. This will be done after examining the concepts that the student failed and those that he or she passed in order for the teacher to know exactly where to start. With that in mind, the teacher will alter the teaching to directly benefit that student. The close monitoring and specialized teaching will automatically raise that student’s academic capabilities (Schaefer, 2005)

Similarly, once the tests are completed and the schools ranked, there will be an increase in competition among the schools as they seek to outshine each other. This level of competition is healthy and raises the standards of education. Furthermore, each school would strive to be among the most excelling because even parents would enroll their children in such schools. Likewise, children would have the desire to attend such schools due to the prestige and high academic prowess that will be associated with them. This will be unlike in the past when children attended the schools nearest to their homes.

In contrast, there are disadvantages to this kind of testing. The fact that this test will be done once a year means that it cannot be a real indicator of a student’s academic abilities. This is because it lacks regularity yet a student could be having a bad day during the time for doing the proficiency test. Therefore, the student may end up scoring poorly even if he or she is talented in other areas. This might affect the morale of the student and lead to self-esteem issues that have unimaginable consequences.

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, each state was supposed to create its own method to assess the performance of a student. In line with that mandate, some states have deliberately set a lower limit than other states. Effectively, a student could perform brilliantly in one state but when compared to the national tally, he or she may not be that much proficient. The teaching methods that will also be adopted by teachers in order for the students to excel will be detrimental to the education standards. This is because the teachers can reasonably predict the contents of the test beforehand as they know that each year, only a few changes are made but the test remains the same. They will thus be teaching for the sake of excelling in the test, making students to miss other elements of knowledge.

I support this testing because it makes the level of school competition to rise up since each school will now be accountable for their own actions. Every school and community will be jointly concerned about the welfare of education in their communities and will assist one another in devising tangible methods to be used in making exemplary performance a reality. The country also stands to benefit from an intelligent population who have amazing ideas that will transform the nation and possibly the world.

Reference

Schaefer, Richard (2005). Sociology. Boston: McGraw-Hill.