Leong Qi Dong Jaw Li Wen Joshua Tan Foo Guo Wei

Purpose of standardized testing  Raised standards vs grade inflation  To motivate students to succeed  A focused approach towards teaching test contents  Standardization  Accurate comparisons

Purpose of standardized testing  Improve accountability  Have a norm-referenced score  Raise the standard of education in schools  Practicality  Better gauge of ability

Current situation  Non-instructional factors come to play  Standardized-test scores often measure superficial thinking  Time, energy, and money  Restricted curriculumn

Flaws  The distribution of resources is very uneven  Standardized tests measure the temporary gaining of facts rather than understanding  Testing only on knowledge

 Vicious cycle of raised test standards vs grade inflation  Teaching to test, drill-and-skill teaching  Distorts and narrows education  High stakes

Possible alternatives – In the 21 st century  Introducing performance-based assessment where students are evaluated on the basis of real work  programs where students are challenged to read, explore, investigate, think and progress rapidly

Reasons Streaming Gifted Education Programme National Examinations

Reasons StudentsSchool MediaPublic Branding

Reasons Name of SchoolPictureComments Anglo Chinese School (Independent) Socially adept, well- groomed, sleek. Hwa Chong Institution (High School) Mandarin-speaking, reserved, hardworking.

Reasons Name of SchoolPictureComments Nanyang Girls High School Down to earth, reserved, studious. Singapore Chinese Girls School Outgoing, classy, articulate.

Reasons  Programmes Offered  Results

Solutions  Media should take the effort to understand school’s students before publishing articles  Introduce some programmes that elite schools have to the other schools.

Problems in America  There are more than 300 languages spoken in the United States by people whose primary language is a language other than English.

Problems in America  If the United States were to become a bilingual society, it would spark off a heated argument among the immigrants on the choosing of the two official languages.

Problems in America  If the 2 languages are not properly learned, a mix-up of the 2 might happen, creating something similar to singlish. Pronunciation and spelling of the 2 languages would also be affected.

Problems in America  With the increase in number of Hispanic population in America, many fear that Spanish would dominate the language system.