In researching the topic of standardized testing with regard to the United States' educational system, I was surprised to find an overwhelming wealth of literature detailing the various problems associated with current testing practices. The current Obama administration, as I heard in his state of the union address, has made it an initiative to tie test scores more closely to teacher and student performance with the hopes of driving the country to hire better educators and ultimately improve schooling. When I investigated this phenomenon known as "high stakes testing", however, I found overwhelming evidence in many different studies which stated this practice was doing more harm than good and was putting unnecessary pressure on educators and students alike. 

One report, titled, "Effects of Standardized Testing on Teachers and Learning  --  Another Look" details the prominent role standardized testing has taken in our educational system and explores several variables through which literature on the subject found standardized testing may influence schooling. These variables are accountability pressure, teacher planning and instruction, time spent on testing and test preparation, teachers' sense of professionalism and pride in work, the general attitudes of teachers regarding the validity of testing, and the meaning of test score improvement. The findings of these studies, detailed in the report, raise a multitude of potential problems associated with the current system based primarily on standardized testing. These effects include increased pressure felt by teachers and students to improve test scores, negative influences on teachers' sense of professionalism as a result of this pressure, allotment of more instructional time on test preparation and testing, and questionable attitudes concerning the validity and meaningfulness of testing by teachers and other researchers, among other things. This source will assist me in detailing the problems associated with standards-based testing seen in the United States' current educational system.  
Another report, titled, "State Standardized Testing Programs: Their Effects on Teachers and Students" includes a detailed summation of how and why the current educational system, heavily rooted in standards based curriculum and "high stakes" testing, came to be. In particular, the mounting assumptions and beliefs 30 years ago that resulted in the creation of high stakes testing and the continual use of testing as a tool for educational reform and foundation for curriculum and educational practices detailed in the report is significant information I can later use to introduce the topic of standardized testing in our educational system and offer insight into why testing has become such an imperative in our system and how it influences it. In addition, this report details the studied effects of high stakes testing, including the pressure students and teachers feel to improve scores, the impact of testing on both disadvantaged and gifted and talented students and schools, and the impact of testing on curriculum and instruction. This latter information will help me better define the potential negative impacts of high stakes testing seen today. 

A policy brief discussing the impact of high stakes exams on students and teachers produced by the New York State Education Department investigates testing's impact on a variety of factors including dropout rates, student academic achievement, student attitudes & motivation, and teacher behavior. Many of the findings reported in the report coincide with similar findings in other literature I researched, including the influence testing has on student motivation, general student and teacher attitudes about testing, and academic achievement. However, one interesting connection is made between accountability pressure and changes in teaching practices that resulted, in the opinion the majority of surveyed teachers, in ineffective educational practice. Other literature presented in this report found that teachers didn't even consider the benefits of testing to outweigh the cost and time constraints involved. In formulating an argument against high stakes testing present in the current educational system, bringing up the obvious lack of teacher support for current testing practices will be an important point to mention. 

In a USA Today article from February of this year, author Greg Toppo presents the notion that the significance taken on by standardized testing in recent years has increased as a result of federal mandates such as No Child Left Behind and actions taken by the Obama administration. The article also investigates "high stakes" testing in schools, that which is used to evaluate teacher and student performance. However, as mentioned in the article, this has become an increasingly large dilemma as teachers across the country are concerned about the effectiveness and value of these tests, with some even boycotting them. Teachers are arguing they are not worth the costs to the educational system, teachers' effectiveness in the classroom, and student learning. This current event-type article brings the issue of standardized testing, specifically in today's educational system, to light and reiterates some of the points brought up by other literature. The dilemma associated with the increasing importance of such tests and the questionable value of these tests is also support for an argument against testing. 

I also looked at several sources in the research process that focused on the viewpoints of experts involved with education reform on ways to approach the problems existent in the current educational system and facilitate the construction of a better system in the future. In an article published by Businessweek, several experts in educational reform were interviewed and asked about their take on how to fix the current educational system. The viewpoint of former IBM CEO Louis Gerstner, which I found of interest, is that schools simply need students to be engaged in on task learning for more time, better teachers, new standards and curriculum, and a new system of indicating whether or not students are meeting standards. In another Forbes article, experts were asked why schools in the United States are failing our students, and they responded that the over-universalized "one size fits all" approach to educational reform and strict focus on limited cognitive growth indicated solely by test scores is in part to blame. In an approach they would support, there would be investment in differentiated instruction for a diverse group of learners, support for underachieving schools, out of school activities that can carry over to the classroom, and a redefined curriculum. 

Although it would be difficult to offer a total solution to the problems seen in our current educational system due to standards based education and testing, practical approaches to these problems as laid out by experts would certainly be of interest to an argumentative essay. In an essay by John Merrow as part of a PBS series on education, for example, a new approach is taken to the issue of finding a new method of assessing students in the classroom. One rational approach presented in the essay is broad-based assessments reliant on teacher-constructed assessments rather than standardized tests in combination with teacher evaluations and other methods of assessment. This essay also details the history behind assessment-based education in the United States and the problems with testing practices in effect today. 

Literature suggests that although funding for music education and music in the classroom has declined in recent years, music education and more generally the use of music in the classroom has the potential to remedy some of the problems in the current educational system. In a report by James Catterrall, the effects music education has on student motivation, learning, attitudes, and performance is discussed in addition to the consequences associated with curtailing such programs. In a different report on the value of music education programs, literature is discussed which states, "the arts provide an effective framework and appropriate curricular point of departure for reaching the at-risk student" (Shields, 2001). The viewpoint of teachers involved in different study involving the importance of musical education was that the programs positively  influence students' feelings of success and satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-confidence that spring from participation in the arts, creative and expressive activities, and keen interest in the subject matter of the arts (Shields). 

Listening to background music has been shown time and again to benefit students in the classroom. Listening to as well as studying music a fair amount myself, I have experienced firsthand the benefits of listening to music in a personal setting. Studies have shown a well-selected playlist of music played at a volume that is considered not distracting can facilitate improved classroom performance and behavior in students. The mental and physical benefits of listening to music have also been shown to extend beyond the classroom. Utilizing music in the classroom is one example of an classroom technique that can be used by teachers to help students get in an engaged learning state that helps them focus and retain information, among other things. However, teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools across the country are increasingly being told to teach a specific way according to a certain set of standards that allows for little input from the teacher. In some cases, like in Seattle, Washington, teachers are assessed according to standardized "measures of academy progress", a method which experts say is unreliable. A poor fit between the design of the course and the teacher's teaching style can also result. 

Studies involving the medical applications of music therapy have shown music to have an effect on biological indicators. According to Professor Susan Hallam, " Calming background music has been shown to have a direct impact on biological indicators of stress such as cortisol  (e.g. Flaten et al. 2006) and blood pressure (e.g. Triller et al. 2006), in addition to perceived anxiety (Pelletier 2004)"  (Hallam, 2005). Classical music has been found to lower heart stress, reduce cortisol levels, and to positively affect the neural and immune systems in ways that are not wholly understood (Kemper & Danhauer, 2005). One obvious key to the success of background music in a classroom is a well-selected playlist of music that will facilitate better student performance and behavior, while not drawing attention away from students. An article in the journal Educational Studies discusses the implications of studies regarding types of music in the classroom and their results on student task performance, saying, "The studies described above demonstrate that, where the type of background music played can be clearly deemed by a group of listeners as calming and pleasant or arousing and unpleasant, it can have distinctive effects on task performance and the reporting of intended altruistic behavior. Calming relaxing music had a positive effect on the number of mathematics problems completed, remembering words from sentences and on reported pro-social behaviour in children aged 10 -- 12 years. Music perceived as arousing, unpleasant and aggressive had a negative affect on performance on a memory task and also led to a lower level of reported pro-social behavior." (Hallam, Price, and Katsarou 2002) My plan for implementing background music in the classroom will take research into account when determining the playlist of music that will be used in the classroom. Research suggests easy listening music, especially classical, is best in terms of beneficial effects in the classroom. Chris Brewer, MA, has extensively researched the relationship between learning and music. He writes in his research compilation, "Research from music therapy suggests that music can "reset" negative attitudes to positive moods, even for people in depression (Thayer et al, 1994). Music therapists Michael Thaut and Shannon de l'Etoile researched the use of music to induce a positive mood. They played the first movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, Opus 107 to 50 students and found the music produced a positive state in 85% of the students (Thaut, 1993)" (Brewer, 2009). One may ask, how is mood associated with classroom performance and behavior? Chris Brewer cites research, saying, "Researchers have established the benefits of positive attitudes for learning success, especially memory and recall (Ashby, Isen, and Turken, 1999; Smith. 2001). Students with depression or negative attitudes engage less in classroom activities, are less efficient at learning, and generally recall less information (Ellis et al, 1997)." One reason teachers at the University would be reluctant to use background music in their classrooms is because they would assume this music would be distracting to students and result in less on task behavior. However, numerous studies have shown that an appropriate music selection played at a generally low volume can actually result in just the opposite. One such study found an observed 2/3 reduction of off task behavior over a nine-week period with the implementation of background music in a classroom (N. Schofield, 2003). The results of another study indicate that both music and non music majors in college both had higher selective attention  --  intentional, focused attention  --  test scores when listening to music as compared to not listening during test taking and these results indicate it may have been facilitative in their performance (Darrow, A.-A., Johnson, C., Agnew, S., Fuller, E. R., & Uchisaka, 2006). A doctorate dissertation authored by Stephanie Haynes found that performing a mathematical task in the classroom does not seem to be negatively affected by the presence of background music in a prior study session. This is supported by her findings that achievement on a math examination was not distinctly different when music or silence was played in a pre examination study session (Haynes, 2003). Haynes' study also found that background music played during a pre-exam study session will reduce the level of mathematics test anxiety both prior and after the examination. Students exposed to background music during a study period before taking a math exam had less pre and post-exam anxiety (Haynes, 2003). These results aren't very surprising; music therapy implemented in modern medicine is taking advantage of the relaxing affects of music. According to an article in the Southern Medical Journal, "music can improve mood and reduce anxiety in surgical patients. In a study of effects of listening to music on preoperative anxiety in men undergoing prostate surgery, participants in a music intervention had significantly reduced anxiety and blood pressure... In a study of 20 women awaiting breast biopsy, the group that received 20 minutes of music had less anxiety than usual care patients" (Kemper & Danhauer, 2005). 

In addition, an article in the Journal of Educational Research investigated the affects of easy-listening background music on the on-task performance of fifth grade students over a four month period. The study conducted by the researchers obtained results which, "indicated that the use of easy listening background music was effective in increasing the on task performance of students... it would seem that providing easy-listening background music in the classroom would be a plausible, yet inexpensive technique for increasing the amount of time in which students are actively engaged in learning." (Davidson & Powell, 1986) The article initially cited previous research regarding the benefits of on-task behavior in students, saying, "other studies have found evidence of an association between time on task and student achievement (Denham & Lieberman, 1980; Karweit, 1984; Stallings, 1980)" (Davidson & Powell, 1986). 

The Center for Psychoacoustic Research published findings on the Sound Health Music for Concentration and Learning CD's they developed, containing, "psychoacoustically-refined classical and baroque music performed by the Arcanglos Chamber Ensemble." The results of surveyed teacher responses of 27 classrooms that implemented the CD's found that, "100% of the teachers reported they enjoyed the experience of playing this music in their classroom. An average of 70.5% reported their students were more on task, 68% reported their classrooms were less noisy, 48.5% reported their students were more attentive, and 50.5% reported their students were more productive when listening" (Advanced Brain Technologies, 1998). 

Improved learning and retention of information learned in the classroom are additional tangible benefits shown in studies to be a result of the implementation of background music in the classroom. Frederick Herrmann of McKendree University cites research on the effects of background music in an educational setting, saying, "Numerous studies have shown the benefits of background music in classroom study and test situations. A case study of 39 1st graders found that studying with background classical music resulted in greater retention of letter sounds and names than studying without it (Lewis, 2002). A Dutch study of 36 individuals demonstrated improved learning of foreign languages with background music (deGroot, 2006). A study using 126 American sophomore high school students demonstrated improved vocabulary and grammar learning with background music (Wolff, 1969). A study of elementary students from three Chicago suburbs showed improvement in spelling word retention with background music (Anderson, Henke, McLaughlin, Ripp, & Tuffs, 2000)" (Herrmann, 2009).
