The Use of Standardized Testing as a Measure of Standards-Based Achievement - Essay Example

The use of Standardized Testing as a Measure of Standards-based Achievement Affiliation details The use of Standardized Testing as a Measure of Standards-based Achievement Standardized testing are forms of testing that obliges all test takers to give an answer to similar questions, or choice of questions from common collection or bank of questions, in a similar way. They have to keep score in an unswerving manner or typical way to make it conceivable to do a comparison of the comparative performances of individuals. While different forms of assessments and tests may be “standardized,” the term is majorly associated with very large-scale assessments or tests that are administered to sizeable populations of individual students (Popham, 2001). Standardized tests are normally created by a team – commonly test experts from testing companies who consult school teachers and university faculties– and are administered to the students in a standardized way. The students not only answer same questions, but they also get the same instructions or directions and are given the same time limits. Sometimes, teachers aid in administering some standardized tests and normally test manuals which contain explicit details concerning the administration and scoring are issued (Cholik & South Dakota, 2001). Standardized tests are broadly divided into two large groups. These groups include criterion-referenced and norm-referenced. The criterion-referenced standardized tests tend to measure student’s performance against a given specific criterion or standard. The norm-referenced standardized tests gauge the performance of students relative to others. The reports from criterion and norm-referenced tests give information that is quite different. The standard-based assessments rely largely on benchmark based assessments to evaluate achievement of content-based principles. Therefore, the use of unvarying standard referenced exams has reduced in graduate school. Moreover, it is only inadequate to appointment and analysis of children with unique capabilities or those with explicit cognitive incapacities (Shores & Chester, 2009). Examples of standardized testing include multiple-choice quizzes overseen to pupil’s 8th-grade public-school in a specific state. In addition to the common multiple-choice formats, standardized tests may as well include short-answers questions, true-false questions, and a mixture of question types or even essay questions. Traditionally, standardized testing was done on sheets of papers and filled in manually using pencils, but recently, they are highly being administered by use of computers linked to online programs (Adkins, 2004). There exists many forms of standardized tests; the following are just a few representative examples of the most familiar forms. Accomplishment trials are the most popular form of unvarying testing. They are designed to measure the abilities and understanding that the students have learnt in schools. They can as well be used to assess the academic progress the students have made over a specified period. Achievement tests may as well be used to assess the effectiveness of teachers and schools, or even identify suitable academic placement for the students. Moreover, it can assist the students in choosing courses or programs might be considered most suitable, or what kinds of academic aid they may require (Dolezalek & Sayre, 2009). Another common form of standardized testing includes aptitude tests. Aptitude assessments try to envisage the ability of the student capacity to excel in a somatic or intelligent work. This can be achieved by assessing the student’s mathematical ability, intellectual thought, linguistic skill, melodic talent, or motor organization. Ability examinations are mostly “forward-looking” because they characteristically endeavor to envisage or predict the ability of student future profession or scholastic setting. Aptitude experiments are mostly a topic of debate, because most questions require their prognostic accuracy (Shores & Chester, 2009). Psychological tests are also a common form of standardized testing. This includes IQ tests which are used to measure an individual’s cognitive abilities and emotional, mental developmental. Trained experts or professionals, like school psychologists, normally administer the tests that might require students to do a series of tasks or decipher a set of problems. These psychological tests are mostly used to recognize students with learning disabilities or even other special needs which might grant them as candidates for specialized services (McNeil, 2000). The last form of the commonly used form of standardized testing is the college-admissions tests. These are applied in the process of determining which students will get admission to collegiate programs. While there are many debates about the usefulness and accurateness of these college-admissions tests, they have helped develop high edge expertise in many organizations. As a result, many institutions of higher learning no longer need applicants to do them. The tests are used as indicators of intellectual as well as academic potential. Moreover, some might consider them very much predictive of ways in which the applicant will progress in the postsecondary program (Dolezalek & Sayre, 2009). There are various uses linked to use of these standardized testing. They are mostly used for varieties of reasons and sometimes the same tests are used for multiple purposes. The first use is diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of students. Standardized testing are used to identify strong point and flaws of students. Standardized tests applied for this purpose are administered to individual on the basis to determine if the student has a disability. Learning disabilities diagnosis always involves the administration of about two types of standardized tests. The tests include an aptitude test which will assess the general cognitive functioning of the student and an achievement test which will assess the knowledge of specific content areas (Henningfeld, 2008). Another use of standardized tests is assessing the progress of students in a wider context. Well-designed assessments tests provide vital information concerning each student’s performance in the classroom. However, teachers may vary in the forms of assessment they apply so the teacher’s assessments may not usually give information on the students’ achievement as compared to some externally established criteria. There exists many reasons why the performance of the students on the teachers’ assessments and standardized assessments might differ. Students may end up performing poorly on the standardized assessments because their teachers use easy grading criteria, or they are not familiar with the items on the standardized tests. In addition, student might perform dismay when there is very poor alignment existing between the contents they were taught in class and the ones on the standardized tests. Moreover, may have got test anxiety, or even they were not feeling well on the specific day of the test (Phelps, 2005). Another use of the standardized testing is selecting students forgiven specific programs. Standardized tests are mostly applied in selecting students forgiven specific programs. For instance, norm-referenced tests are used to aid determine if students from high schools are admitted to selective postsecondary institutions such as colleges. Similarly, norm-referenced standardized tests are used, amongst other criteria, to gauge if the students are eligible to obtain special education or talented and gifted programs. The criterion-referenced tests are applied to determine which types of students are eligible to be promoted to the next grade or even graduation from high schools (United States, 2002). Assisting teachers’ planning is another essential use of standardized testing. The norm-referenced, as well as criterion, referenced standardized tests, can help teachers to make decisions regarding their instructions. For instance, if a teacher discovers that most of his students performed quite exemplary on a norm-referenced test in his class, he may opt to adapt his instructions in the following years. Similarly, after seeing a poor performance at the end of the year in his criterion-referenced standardized test results a teacher might decide to change or modify the techniques she used earlier (Zwick, 2004).. Another obvious use of these tests includes promoting accountability in schools. The results of the standardized tests are largely being used to hold administrators and teachers accountable for the learning of students. It is a requirement of all public schools from all states to send report cards to both the parents and the general public that comprise results of standardized tests for all the schools. Public accountability of teachers and schools is on the rise in many states. And this increased accountability has an impact on the public perception and work of the teachers as well as administrators in schools (Goslin, 2003). Other uses of these standardized tests include evaluating whether the students have learned the content they are supposed to learn. This includes whether they have attained state learning standards. In such cases, assessment marks are regarded as illustrative pointers of achievements of students. Also, the tests are used to identify existing gaps in the learning of students as well as their academic progress (Kohn, 2000).  Similarly, standardized tests may be used to identify achievement gaps among various student groups. These groups may include students who aren’t proficient in both spoken and written English, students coming from low-income households, as well as students having learning or physical disabilities. In such a case, emphasizing and revealing accomplishment gaps will be an important factor to ensure students are well taught and informed appropriately. This will eventually lead to greater and better public awareness as well as changes in educational programs and policies (Goslin, 2003). Many debates have arisen about the standardized testing. The discussions tend to focus on the manner in which the assessments are administered, and whether they provide dependable or undependable appraisals of the students’ learning. Most test experts and developers caution against applying standardized test scores as exclusive measures of educational performance. However, numerous also agree that standardized tests can be valuable indicators of performance if applied appropriately and judiciously (Kohn, 2000). In conclusion, standardized testing are a life line for all teachers to ensure student are well taught. Therefore, it is very important to understand what the students can and cannot do. From a broadly perspective, the tests either diagnose learning problems, assess achievement or predict the future academic performance of students. Their uses such as diagnosing the strong point and faintness of students, selecting students to specific programs and assessing the progress of students in a wider context are of important to student and school. Moreover, assisting teachers’ planning and promoting accountability are much beneficial to schools. Nevertheless, because of their nature as well as their limitations, standardized tests are prone to misuse by either reinforcing biases or by tempting the teachers to teach students for the tests. Furthermore, the test may tempting the students to cheat when they are taking the tests, or even by tempting the teachers to cheat when reporting scores (Shermis, & Di, 2011). References Adkins, D. C. (2004). Test construction: Development and interpretation of achievement tests. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill. Cholik, C., & South Dakota. (2001). Standardized testing in education. Pierre, S.D.: Legislative Research Council. Dolezalek, H., & Sayre, R. (2009). Standardized testing in schools. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub. Co. Goslin, D. A. (2003). The search for ability: Standardized testing in social perspective. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Henningfeld, D. A. (2008). Standardized testing. Detroit: Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale. Kohn, A. (2000). The case against standardized testing: Raising the scores, ruining the schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. McNeil, L. M. (2000). Contradictions of school reform: Educational costs of standardized testing. New York: Routledge. Popham, W. J. (2001). The truth about testing: An educators call to action. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Phelps, R. P. (2005). Defending standardized testing. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Shermis, M. D., & Di, V. F. J. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Shores, C., & Chester, K. (2009). Using RTI for school improvement: Raising every students achievement scores. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press. United States. (2002). Testing in American schools: Asking the right questions: summary. Washington, D.C: Congress of the U.S., Office of Technology Assessment. Zwick, R. (2004). Rethinking the SAT: The future of standardized testing in university admissions. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Read More