Assessment Article Review about Standardized Testing Essay Example

assessment,written examinations and standardized tests (Gipps,2002).

Standardized Testing has been a very heavily debated issue in Education and in the United States for my decades. I personally think standardized testing has some pros and cons. I can’t say I am against Standardized testing nor can I say I am for them. I think in some cases there may be a need for them and in some cases there is not in my opinion. Some people believe that the United States has become a culture dependent on standardized tests ( Freund, 1999).

Standardized tests can be stressful and disputed in education as well as psychology in education because some is hard to attain,and certain requirements must be rigidly enforced, for example subjects must be given exactly the same amount of time to take the test (Anonymous,2018). Directions must be given using precisely the same wording from group to group with no embellishments,encouragement,or warnings,as well as scoring must be exact and consistent (Anonymous,2018).

I found an article about ethical issues that relates to standardized test assessments and it discusses education and the federal mandate on standardized testing. The article also discusses the bill that the Republican Senate is drafting that would get rid of the federal mandate on standardized testing (Kamenetz,2015). Annual tests for every child in reading and math in grades three through eight,and one in high school have been the center of federal education law since 2002 (Kamenetz,2015). Concern has also grown about the number of test for children and the time that is spent on them,which has made some parents form groups that would take their child from having to take federally mandated tests as well as

district required tests (Kamenetz ,2015). One of the biggest school districts have spoken out in favor of decreasing the number of standardized test students are given and the national teachers unions and other traditionally Democratic groups agree with this also (Kamenetz ,2015).

“ The earliest record of standardized testing comes from China where hopefuls for government jobs had to fill out examinations testing their knowledge of Confucian philosophy and poetry” ( Fletcher, 2009). According to Fletcher as the Industrial Revolution began to help to take children away from farms and factories and put them behind a desk that is when standardized examinations came about. It was an easy way to test many students at one time, and fast. By 1845 in the United States, public education advocate Horace Mann was calling for standardized essay testing, like spelling tests, geography tests and math tests blossomed in schools, although they were rarely standardized ( Mathews, 2006).

In the 1980s and in the early part of the 1990s many governors argued that they had to test all their students to raise school standards and improve their economies, among them were Democrats Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Richard W. Riley of South Carolina, who would soon become president and U.S. education secretary, and later in the 90s Gov. George W. Bush of Texas was a big proponent of testing as well (Mathews, 2006). According to Lena Freund and eHow Contributor the Standards of Learning tests were given in the state of Virginia in the first half of the 21st century as part of President George W. Bush No Child Left Behind initiative. This test was called the SOL, which was not

only used to assess each student’s mastery of course material in the four core subjects, but also to reflect on the teaching standards at each school in the state. Children that are in third grade through eighth grade are tested every year in math and English, and high school students as well that complete each course level (Mathews,2006). The No Child Left Behind law made it difficult to use only multiple choice standardized test, which was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (Mathewson,2017).

Standardized testing holds teachers and schools accountable, and probably one of the greatest benefits of standardized testing is that teachers and schools are responsible for teaching students what they are required to know for these standardized tests ( Meador, 2013). This would be because the scores become public records, and teachers who didn’t do well may lose their jobs over the scores and come under fire for them, or the school may be closed, or worst case scenario the state may take it over (Meador,2013). According to Jay Mathews, (2006) some educators said a better way to improve schools was to spend more on teacher training, salaries and smaller classes, but they dwelled on educational inputs, and the politicians, on outputs. The National Education Association and other teacher organizations argue that it is unfair to rate schools through such tests when teachers lack adequate training and pay ( Mathews, 2006).

Horace Mann had an idea in the 1800’s period about annual oral exams (Gershon,2015). He wanted children to have chances to move forward in school. I took a while for standardized tests to get picked up in the school system. They helped put

students where they needed to be in class and in a some subjects. Some standardized tests were made to test to see how much a child knew and have learned. Some questions came about these tests like were they helping children or hurting them (Gershon,2015). Psychological testing are tests that aspires to measure a child’s strengths. They started in the early era (War drop, 1976). Standardized tests helped to see how smart a child was and helped to see how much a child had learned in a certain subject in their classes. According to Patrick Lemann (2000) people who favored IQ tests wanted them to be granted to school children in America (Swafford,2007). Children who had better IQ’s had to take a lot of intellectual and more studious education,but the other children’s education concentrated on work skills and feasible practices for use in their life (Swafford, 2007). “The Wechsler Intelligence scale are divided into two sections verbal and nonverbal with separate scores for each,and verbal intelligence the component most often associated with academic success implies the ability to think in abstract terms using either words are mathematical symbols”( Dr.Jethro).

Multiple choice test had become very known when it came to parts that gave education testing a breakthrough,which were some reasons the industry grew,as well new demographic actions for examining and making tests, faster and finding ways to score them and get better results (War drop,1976). Standardized tests has many ways to be used and not used correctly, and the three misuses of test scores are to make teachers answerable, and to determine what understanding and skills children may default in, and to hold students responsible for

learning ( Bracey,1998). The misuse that has been in the public eye in some years ago has been the risky ways in which standardized test scores are used to pass and to keep students held back as well as to say whether or not they can complete high school ( Swafford, 2007).

According to Kara Swafford ,(2007) standardized tests can be viewed by people as beneficial, because these tests seem to assess what they want to assess, which are somewhat right, and also some see this test,brisk and correct method of analyzing schools and the children, but the glitches cannot be used in finding acceptability of this test (Swafford,2007).

Proponents say standardized tests are a fair and objective measure of student achievement and that they ensure teachers and schools are accountable to taxpayers, but the opponents say the tests are neither fair nor objective that their use promotes a narrow curriculum and drill like teaching to the nest and that excessive testing undermines America's ability to produce innovators and critical thinkers (Kavips, 2013).

People wonder what could replace yearly tests. They could be replaced by sampling which means they could be the same tests ,but not as many of them,and not giving the same students the same test every year,but that's how our nation's report card works which is formally known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Kamenetz,2015). The Stealth assessment which is almost like math and reading data, but they are collected differently,and it doesn't just show what skills a child may already know in any given moment. This pattern shows how quickly a child learns,and how heedfully they are in other factors (Kamenetz,2015). Would that

be ethical and not break any ethical codes?

It was not that long ago academicians were often cautious about airing the ethical dilemmas they faced in their research and academic work,but now that environment is changing today and psychologists in academe are more likely to seek out the advice of their colleagues on issues (Smith,2003). Like the issues that arise from standardized test and how they are changing in some ways. APA Ethics Code offers some guidance when it comes to answer questions about study authenticity and allow others to reanalyze the results (Smith,2003). Ethical Standard 9.09 addresses the use of tests scoring and interpretation services from two perspectives that of psychologists who offer such services and that of psychologists who select such services for use ( Behnke,2004 ). The final clause of 9.09 refers to ethical standards on competence is an excellent introduction to 9.09 places responsibility for the application interpretation and use of assessment instruments on the person giving the test (Behnke,2004).

My affirmative position on whether or not these ethical challenges affect the validity is that l feel that standardized tests are very stressful to some children and, they are time consuming, but they can also be beneficial as well. “Standardized testing has both positive and negative aspects and when used effectively” (Margie, 2008). These tests can give teachers guidance to help them figure out what to teach students and when to teach it, and the results would be less wasted time and a simplified way of timeline management (Margie, 2008). These tests can cause anxiety for children and teachers. Children as well as teachers can have problems with their health and feel ill

towards their school and not want to learn at all (Margie, 2008).

According to Derrick Meador there are several reasons why standardized test are not going anywhere any time soon, because with the Common Core Standards and with the impending transitions, associated assessments, he says you can best bet that the debate of the practice of standardized testing will continue for years to come and it has.

This will conclude my essay on some of the articles I reviewed that is related to ethical psychological assessments and Standardized test in the United States, and how I am neither for nor against these tests given to children in the United States.

References

1. Kamenetz, A. (2015). Beyond Standardized Tests: Existing Tools For Measuring Student Progress. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org
2. Meador, D. (2013). Standardized Testing: Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing. Retrieved from http://www.teaching.about.com/od/assess/a/Standardized-Testing.html
3. Fletcher, D. (2009). Standardized Testing. Retrieved from http://www.content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947019,00.html
4. Freund, L. (1999). Standardized Test for Schools. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7958045_standardized -test-schools.html
5. Matthews, J. (2006). Just Whose Idea Was All This Testing? Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301007.html
6. Swafford, K. (2007). The Use of Standardized Test Scores: An Historical Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/bitstream/handle/10724/17120/swafford_karla_200712_edd.pdf?seqquence=1
7. Kavips (2013).Pro and Cons of Standardized Testing. Retrieved from http://www.kavips.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing/html
8. Gipps, C. (2002). Beyond Testing:Towards A Theory of Educational Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.scholar.google.com
9. Mathewson, T. (2017).States Will Soon Be Free To Transform Standardized Testing,But Most Want. Retrieved From https://hechingerreport.org
10. Smith,D. (2003). Five Principles for Research Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org
11. Behnke,S. (2004). Test Scoring and Interpretation Services. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org
12. Gershon,L. (2015). A Short History of Standardized Tests. Retrieved from https://www.daily.jstor.org
13. Hani. (2015, November 30). Relying on High-Stakes Standardized Tests to Evaluate Schools and Teachers: A Bad Idea. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1104410
14. Margie.
    

(2008, November 21). A Look at the Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing. Retrieved from https://www.brighthubeducation.com/student-assessment-tools/16137-the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing/