Good Scores Lead to Good Rewards_Persuasive Speech

Good Scores Lead to Good Rewards

By Hugo Rosiles

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium a.k.a. the S.B.A.C. Test. It is only given to juniors in high school The purpose of the S.B.A.C. is to measure the learning capabilities of one student and see if they meet the standards set for their grade level by the state. The expectation is that by their junior year in high school, students should be able to read and write at a certain level and solve math problems at a certain level. The S.B.A.C. is the standardized test that determines if students have reached that level in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science or not.

Most people have mixed feelings about the SBAC system. Omar Garcia, a junior at Greenfield High School, told The Bruin’s Eye, “I do not like the schedule of the SBAC, like why cannot we just finish it all in one day?”  Others believe that they are found easily. According to junior Nathan Avila, he said that he found the SBAC easy. Judging from most responses, most people are not a huge fan of the test. Some even call it pointless. Other students believe since it will not impact their grades, there is no reason to try to do well on the test.

So, students, what can the SBAC do for you?

1. When our scores go up, so does our school funding.

What does this mean? Well, the performance of students on the S.B.A.C. determines the amount of funding the school gets. Why does this matter?

School funding purchases things for students such as basic supplies, field trips, and even pays for the upgrade and maintenance of the school, like cleaning restrooms, cleaning the campus, and cleaning up classrooms. For example, there have been a plethora of complaints that the toilet paper in the school restrooms is poor quality and too rough. An increase in school funding could resolve this issue. Another example of what can resolve the poor test scores is an update on the English textbooks. The current textbooks that are found within English classes of Greenfield High School were published in 2002. That was 22 years ago, there has been a change in English teaching from then to now, and new textbooks are what contain that new info to update these students. And it is not just toilet paper and textbooks, that G.H.S. could afford, let us talk about field trips. Greenfield High School students often go to several college campuses throughout the year, paid for by school funding. This allows students to experience colleges in person to help them decide which college they may want to attend after graduation.

If student S.B.A.C. scores increase, that means more funding for field trips, and who knows we can potentially have a field trip to a national landmark like the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, or the Grand Canyon, which makes student life richer on our campus because corporations may see Greenfield High School is exceeding and we can potentially get sponsors.

2. Our students can score a 3 or a 4 if they just pour their soul into it

Every student taking this test can get a 3 (scoring at grade level) or a 4 (above grade level) when they take it in their junior year. Since the S.B.A.C. is not graded by our teachers as an assignment for a Greenfield High class would be, many students speed through the multiple choice and hurry to get to the end of the test. This means not reading questions carefully, or thoughtfully considering the possible answers, instead of just picking C for everything and stopping for the day. Then when they get to the Performance Task (or essay portion of the exam) students may only write one or two paragraphs instead of a complete essay because they are lazy about the school or do not care since it does not directly affect their grade in Math, English, or Science class. Proctors are not allowed to interfere with students during their tests by coaching them or making suggestions. But students who do not author a full essay with an introduction, body paragraphs, a conclusion, a main claim, supporting evidence from multiple sources, elaboration on that evidence, and a counterclaim and refutation cannot score higher than a 2 (below grade level) on the S.B.A.C.

Junior English teachers spend the school year equipping students to write an essay that meets these requirements, and our students practice doing it. Everyone can write an essay that will score at least a 3, it just takes the determination to keep on going no matter how hard the challenge is. The challenges they face during the SBAC will only get progressively worse when they go into college.

 

3. We can bump up our grades by doing well on the SBAC.

A lot of people face the issue of their English or Math grades being too low to do any extracurricular activities such as sports, joining clubs, and many other programs like CSF and ETS. Well performing well on the S.B.A.C. may be your ticket to earning good grades or even raising grades. For the second year in a row, the English Department has agreed to bump up the grades students are earning in their English 3 class based on their performance on the S.B.A.C. And students this year were given the opportunity to bump up their Spring Semester grades this year:

 

Any student who scores a 3 on their SBAC test sees their class grade go up by 1/2 a grade level:   An F grade becomes a D (passing for graduation but not meeting A-G requirements)     60% goes up to 65% D- to D   65% goes up to 70% D to C-   75% goes up to 80% C to B-   80% goes up to 85% B- to B   85% goes up to 90% B to A-   90% goes up to 95% A- to A

Any student who scores a 4 on their SBAC test sees their class grade go up by an entire grade level:   50% becomes 60% (passing for graduation but not meeting A-G requirements)     60% becomes 70%   70% becomes 80%   80% becomes 90%   and 90% becomes 100%   For example, if you have a 73% C- that becomes an 83% B- or an 84.2% B becomes a 94.2% A

 

The English Department is likely to continue this policy of grade bumps, and based on this year’s scores, the Math and Science Departments may consider following suit.

If you ask me, grade bumps to Spring Semester grades are enough motivation to do well for any student. Who does not want free points? And not scoring a 3 or 4 does no harm to your grade, so trying to do well has zero risks.

To all the freshmen and sophomores eventually, you are going to have to take this test no matter what, there is no stopping it from coming. So, to prepare yourselves for the test just make sure you are consistently paying attention to your English and Math class. You may say how this benefits us, it only benefits the school. You are right about that but remember your scores on this test can give the school more funding to improve things like toilet paper and more field trips to fun places.