The Controversy of Standardized Testing Essays -- Standardized Testing

The Controversy of Standardized TestingNo issue in the U.S. grooming is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and encyclopedism (Phelps). A tool that educators lend oneself to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests argon designed to give a common measure of a students functioning. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a instructor assess a students strengths and weaknesses in a particular subject. Diagnostic tests are typically abandoned to elementary school students when learning problems are suspected. Aptitude tests are designed to predict how a student will perform in the future. For example, the SAT predicts performance in the first year of college. Standardized tests give educators a standard measure or yardstick because such a large number of students crosswise the country take the same test. These tests are used to tell how well school programs are doing or to give a picture of the skills and abilities of students. Standardized tests however, are problematic at all ages and levels of schooling. Standardized aptitude tests measure students abilities to learn in school, how well they are likely to succeed in future education. quite a than measuring knowledge of subjects taught in school, these tests measure a broad range of abilities or skills that are considered important to succeed in school. The classroom setting and teacher are the key to assessment. Pressure to produce higher scores leads teachers to focus on material that will be covered by the tests and to exclude everything else. The political platform is thereby narrowed, which means that some subjects are ignored. Within those that are taught, lower order thinking skills are emphasized. As a result, test scores puddle inflated while real learning suffers (Phelps). Performance based assessment guarantees an increased understanding of the growth of individual child. Such understanding reduces the need for shortly used standardized tests.Standards for Education and Psychological Testing (American Psychological Association) states the ... ... tests are counterproductive. Meaning that instead of leading to stronger academic achievement, it is said to interfere with teaching and learning. Teachers should use test results to improve their instruction, not to justify lower expectations or to stereotype students.BibliographyWorks CitedAmerican Psychological Association. Standards for educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, D.C. American Psychological Association, 1985Goodwin, W.L., and Driscoll, L.A. handbook for Measurement and Evaluation in Education. San Fransisco Jossey-Bass, 1980Ph elps, R.P. Why Testing Experts Hate Testing. Fordham Report, Jan. 1999 Available online http//www.ed.excellence.net/library/phelps.htmSacks, P. Standardized Minds The High Price of Americas Testing coating and What we Can do to Change it. Cambridge, Mass. Perseus Books, Feb. 2000 Available online http//www.fairtest.org.k12/psacks.htmlWiseman, D.L., Cooner, D.D., and Knight, S.L. Becoming a Teacher in a Field-Based Setting an Introduction to Education and Classrooms. Belmont, CA Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999Woolfolk, A. Educational Psychology. Needham