Standardized Testing as a Teaching and Assessment Technique

Standardized Testing as a Teaching and Assessment Technique

"Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as any test that's administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner" (Procon.org, 2006-2012). Most questions are multiple-choice or long response. No matter the type of question, this testing style has raised much controversy in the United States since its origin. History will tell us how standardized testing has evolved into the 21st Century. Pros will explain advantages, and cons will explain disadvantages. This paper will discuss the history, pros and cons of standardized testing as a teaching and assessment technique.

History

Standardized tests have been a part of American education since the mid-1800s. Their use skyrocketed after the 2002's No Child Left behind Act (NCLB), directed annual testing in all 50 states. US students slipped from 18th in the world, in math, in 2000 to 31st place in 2009, with a similar decline in science and no change in reading. Failures in the education system have been blamed on rising poverty levels, teacher quality, tenure policies, and increasing use of standardized tests (Procon.org, 2012).

The earliest record of standardized testing comes from China, where people who applied for government jobs had to fill out examinations testing their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry. But as the Industrial Revolution took school-age kids out of the farms and factories and put them behind desks, standardized examinations emerged as an easy way to test large numbers of students quickly (Fletcher, 2009)

Pros

It is said that standardized tests are a fair and objective measure of student achievement, that they ensure teachers and schools are accountable to taxpayers, and that the most relevant constituents - parents and students - approve of testing (Procons.org, 2012). According to Flanagan, Mascolo, and Hardy, using standardized tests to conduct assessments is useful for several reasons. First, because standardized tests yield reliable information such as scores, proficiency levels, and so forth, results can be used in screening programs such as identifying those students in need of further assessment. Second, standardized test results provide information on a student's areas of strength and weakness. Third, standardized test results allow a student to be compared to age- or grade-peers. Finally, standardized tests can be used to assess students' progress over time (e.g., re-administering tests after a period of time or following the process of a remedial program) (IRA/NCTE Joint Task Force on Assessment, 1997; Witt et al., 1998). The most important advantage of results from a standardized test is that the results can be documented and used for experiments. This then allows for the results