Analysis

Research Question

How does standardized testing affect public schooling?

Sources

1 Schools in Atlanta are being watched because school officials believe there has been

cheating going on (teachers changing answers after students leave the room)

2 Students in higher income states are doing better on standardized tests while students

from lower income states are doing worse

3 Educational reform is happening for three reasons: because of the economy, to reduce

educational inequality, and to increase assessment objectivity. The author concludes

current efforts to reform are useless because they don’t work

4 No Child Left Behind Act stresses testing to see what students are learning and what

teachers are teaching. Funding for schools is based on test performance. Test scores in

the Denver Metro Region are being used as the sole basis for the relationship betweenschool characteristics and student performance

Use one source to critique another

Present reforms are so useless and ineffective (source 3) that the system is turning against itself with teachers being accused of changing answers (source 1) and inequality rising (maybe?) (source 2)

Use one source as a "lens" for interpreting another

Because school characteristics are now solely based on test scores (source 4), teachers are being tempted, accused, pressured to have classes with high test scores; therefore, accusations of cheating are becoming more prevalent (source 1)

Establish a connection between sources that may seem unrelated

The economic pressures that are causing educational reform (source 3) are affecting higher income states less than lower income states (source 2); giving students from higher income states an added advantage on their testing.

ExamplesResearch question

What factors influence the development process for gay male youth?

Example of connecting two sourcesIn his qualitative exploration Charles Joseph Lattarulo found that gay male youth have a difficult time with their identity development because they have to balance their own expectations and self image with those of their parents, peers and society at large. He then goes on to note that “according to Erikson (1968), the resolution of the identity crisis is that the adolescent attains his or her own expectation in addition to those of society, and that in the process he or she finds sense of sameness and continuity of experience”(Lattarulo,2005). Tellingator compliments this; she states that young men may “compartmentalize” some of the feelings of rejection that they get from their families and communities. She asserts, “Compartmentalizing may be a conscious or unconscious mechanism that helps sexual minority adolescents cope with rejection by family members, peers, communities, and religious affiliations. They may fear harm or may already have been the target of violence and emotional abuse”(Telingator, 2011).

Another exampleIf location plays a huge role in the identity development of sexual minority young males, then the messages and culture of a college campus would have similar effects on these young people as their communities would. A study conducted by Richard Steven Jr., set out to confirm just that. His study found that on a college campus one's sexual identity is complexly integrated and often at odds with other aspects of the individual's identity (Stevens, 2004). The study also stated that “one's sexual identity is complexly integrated and often at odds with other aspects of the individual's identity”(Steven,2004). This complicates what have been stated before about identity development process within a community, because if those findings stated by the other experts were true, then it would mean that being outside of one’s own cultural environment can in turn slightly disturb the identity development process. This however also means that this time in their lives can be influenced by the messages and climate of the campus itself.