Standardized Tests (Term Paper Sample)

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Standardized Testing
The education system in the 21st century has been widely guided by the use of standardized tests (Haney, Madaus & Lyon 1). The pressure for standardized testing scores has been building from all quotas of the education sector. The community and the school administrators have been leveling mounting pressure on the teachers to deliver in the state tests. Teachers drawn from various states have been struggling with the pressure of ensuring that their school’s reputation was regarded high by the general community. The community could get information about the school’s performance, from discussions of the school rankings and scores published in the dailies. Other teachers are struggling with the pressure from the district officials who demand that their schools perform well in the standardized tests. This paper seeks to access the standardized testing methods used in student evaluation. Moreover, the paper will examine the current controversies and criticisms surrounding the use of standardized testing.
Standardized Tests
The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) refers to the standardized tests as tests that could be administered under specified conditions (The NCREL 1). Some of the conditions that must be specified before the test could be administered include the place, the time and the time duration that the learners will be taking in responding to the questions.
Standardized tests could be administered in two forms; individualized and group evaluation tests. The state assessment for No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is an example of a standardized test designed to assess a large group of individuals. The others are individual-based. They are administered to enable the teacher to identify the learning needs of the specific student under the education program.
Standardized tests can be administered in the form of a series of questions against multiple choice answers that the learner would fill out and then be graded once the answers are marked. The graded result will be used to evaluate the performance of the individual learner against other learners. It can also be used to measure the performance of the individual student against the established standards. Further, the results can be used to assess the progress of the institution of learning in which the student took the test. The test result can also be used in assessing the individual student’s ability to attend institution of higher learning thereby ensuring that the student is placed in programs that suit their learning abilities.
Forms of Standardized Testing
Education assessment could take various forms. The children would be assessed using various tests. The tests may include formal tests and normal tests. The formal assessments could be carried out to help in comparing the children population. They would also be used in ensuring the individual children’s performance evaluation. The tests are progressive and could be used to ascertain the learning progress of the students.
Intelligent testing can be administered on individual learners. The test is carried out to establish the Intelligent Quotient (IQ) of the individual student. This test cannot be administered on groups since it will be difficult to establish and qualify the IQ of a group of individuals. The results of this test are normally used in screening the students for other programs. The results will also enhance the teachers’ efficiency in designing appropriate programs for the students with specified learning needs and this will improve the learning process of the individual students.
The other assessment test administered on students under the education program is the individualized achievement test. This test is criterion-referenced and is carried out on the individual learners to establish whether the individual student achieved certain specified concepts. The criterion upon which the student would be assessed is predetermined. The learner will then be assessed against those pre-determined standards and the deviations recorded. The result of this test is instrumental when the teacher will be preparing an educational program that is geared towards enabling the students attain the set standards.
Tests of functional behavior will also be administered in assessing the progress of children under the education program. This test will be carried out on children with severe cognitive and autism problems. The test will help the teacher to identify the necessary functional areas that the children must learn to be able to gain functional independence. The results of this test will enable the teacher to develop programs that will ensure that the student focus on attaining their lacking functional skill. This will ensure an improvement in the learning process of the student with functional deficiency.
Another criterion-based assessment that could be administered to the students with education needs will be the curriculum-based assessment. The test is designed to aid teachers in establishing the curriculum coverage of the student. The test is formative in nature, and therefore, will ensure the formative evaluation. The teacher will use the results of this test in designing a program that will aid the student curriculum-information retention. This will ensure that the learners attain deeper understanding of the curriculum.
The other test that can be used to establish the learning level of the students under the education program is the teacher-made assessment. In this test, the teacher will design a task upon which the student will be measured. The teacher will also provide the learners with all the necessary materials for the test. The students will then undertake the test, and their performance will be recorded. The teacher will use the result of such tests to identify the learning needs in the task under consideration.
Current Controversies with Standardized Testing
There have been controversies surrounding standardized testing in the contemporary education sector. Many parents and students have criticized the sole reference to the results of standardized test in making major decisions. They are against high-stakes testing.
High-Stakes Testing
When standardized testing results are used as the single base for decision-making, then high-stakes testing is said to have taken place. The practice has been highly condemned by the parents, as well as the educators. They propose that the results of the standardized test be only considered among the many other factors that could influence the major decision. The result should not underestimate the importance of the other factors such as in-class performance, and/or class work (Airasian 396).
The practice of high-stakes testing has been associated with stress-related problems affecting the students and the other stakeholders including parents and the administration. Research shows that the stress caused by high-stakes testing has, in some circumstances, led to psychological dependency. The thought that individual performance on one unit is likely to affect the lifestyle of the individual is opposed by many, including educators themselves. These opposing parties criticize the high-stakes testing methodology.
Most educators have noted that high-stakes testing leads to poor and/or moderated learning. Given the pressure for standardized testing and its use in assessment of the school’s performance, the talented teachers are normally forced to teach students to the tests. They will focus their teaching in making the students pass exams. In many cases, this will lead to poor curriculum coverage and the student will not achieve their learning goals but the goals of the high-stakes testing.
Some people are of the opinion that many students who have undergone high-stakes testing have not been able to successively complete their high school education or proceed with the programs of higher learning that they could be interested in. In this regard, many parents have been campaigning against the high-stakes testing saying that it denies the children their personal freedom and independence to choose what is best for their career.
In addition to these claims against high-stakes testing, standardized testing has received numerous criticisms ranging from the fact that it fails to measure the students’ critical thinking abilities and/or creativity. It has been established that if students who are very intelligent perform poorly in the high-stakes testing, their psychological stability could be affected. This could be because of the high expectations placed on them. They collapse under the pressure shouldered on them to perform well (Johnson D. 96).
Advantages of Standardized Tests
Standardized testing is designed to restrain subjective elements of assessment. The proponents of standardized testing methods argue that the method ensures the objective measurement of the learners. The standardization of the grading ensures that the test scores appear the same thereby removing the bias as a result of the learner (Phelps 113).
These tests are also easy to administer. They save the assessor as well as the one being assessed a lot of time. The standardized tests are quite convenient as they can even be administered on line (Lovler, Miller and McIntire 97).
The proponents argue that standardized tests present a better prediction of how well the students performed in the schools in which they got admission. Research has shown that standardized test results provide a better prediction to future performance of students when they progress to institutions of higher learning compared to other methods such as interviews.
In addition to the fact that standardized test results could be generalized, the aggregation method of evaluating large groups of learners could provide an accurate basis of ...