Standardized Testing
Lainey Sullivan
Evaluation Paper
Standardized Testing
Standardized tests are a common and popular way to evaluate the academic achievements of students, teachers and school districts. They are used in many areas such as the army, civil service, medicine and so on. Standardized tests are most widely used in the field of education to assess the academic performance of students. Two commonly known types of standardized tests in the United States are the SAT and the ACT. The SAT evaluates skills in vocabulary and mathematics, while the ACT has more to do with a broader range of knowledge and includes additional subjects, such as science. The idea of standardized testing is to detect areas where students usually fail, or fall behind and promote improvement, not punish them. Many arguments are in favor of using these kinds of tests, but there are also a number of arguments that are against the idea as well. Standardized testing has many advantages along with disadvantages and there are also new test alternatives being used due to criticisms of the standardized tests.
Quality of Standardized Testing Instruments
The quality of any standardized testing instrument, whether norm-referenced or criterion-referenced, is supported by both reliability and validity studies. Professional testing associations or organizations often publish standards that practitioners can later refer to when evaluating the quality of a testing instrument. For example, in the field of psychometrics, there is a set of standards which psychologists and other related doctors can refer to when interested in the standards of test development or make-up, fairness of the test, and testing applications. Additionally, practitioners can learn about the properties of tests by using other sources such as “Mental Measurements Yearbooks” and “Tests in Print.”
Advantages of Standardized Testing Using standardized tests to conduct assessments has many advantages. First, because standardized tests yield
Evaluation Paper
Standardized Testing
Standardized tests are a common and popular way to evaluate the academic achievements of students, teachers and school districts. They are used in many areas such as the army, civil service, medicine and so on. Standardized tests are most widely used in the field of education to assess the academic performance of students. Two commonly known types of standardized tests in the United States are the SAT and the ACT. The SAT evaluates skills in vocabulary and mathematics, while the ACT has more to do with a broader range of knowledge and includes additional subjects, such as science. The idea of standardized testing is to detect areas where students usually fail, or fall behind and promote improvement, not punish them. Many arguments are in favor of using these kinds of tests, but there are also a number of arguments that are against the idea as well. Standardized testing has many advantages along with disadvantages and there are also new test alternatives being used due to criticisms of the standardized tests.
Quality of Standardized Testing Instruments
The quality of any standardized testing instrument, whether norm-referenced or criterion-referenced, is supported by both reliability and validity studies. Professional testing associations or organizations often publish standards that practitioners can later refer to when evaluating the quality of a testing instrument. For example, in the field of psychometrics, there is a set of standards which psychologists and other related doctors can refer to when interested in the standards of test development or make-up, fairness of the test, and testing applications. Additionally, practitioners can learn about the properties of tests by using other sources such as “Mental Measurements Yearbooks” and “Tests in Print.”
Advantages of Standardized Testing Using standardized tests to conduct assessments has many advantages. First, because standardized tests yield