STANDARDIZED TEST DON’T MEASURE

STUDENT’S SKILLS PROPERLY

(An argument paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education)

SUBMITTED TO:
SUSANA P. MAGTUBO, Ed. D

SUBMITTED BY:
MARLENE E. MORGA
MAT-FOOD TECHNOLOGY

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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INTRODUCTION:

A standardized test is any form of test that requires all test takers to answer

the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in

the same way, and that is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes

it possible to compare the relative performance of individual students or groups of

students. While different types of tests and assessments may be “standardized” in

this way, the term is primarily associated with large-scale tests administered to

large populations of students, such as a multiple-choice test given to all the eighth-

grade public-school students in a particular state, for example.

In addition to the familiar multiple-choice format, standardized tests can

include true-false questions, short-answer questions, essay questions, or a mix of

question types.

A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or

"standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the

questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are

consistent and are administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.

While standardized tests were traditionally presented on paper and completed

using pencils, and many still are, they are increasingly being administered on

computers connected to online programs a computer-adaptive test. While

standardized tests may come in a variety of forms, multiple-choice and true-false

formats are widely used for large-scale testing situations because computers can

score them quickly, consistently, and inexpensively. In contrast, open-ended essay

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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questions need to be scored by humans using a common set of guidelines or rubrics

to promote consistent evaluations from essay to essay.

Whether paper and pencil or administered on computers standardized tests

can measure a student’s skills properly.

BACKGROUND

While standardized tests are a major source of debate in the United States,

many test experts and educators consider them a fair and objective method of

assessing the academic achievement of students, mainly because the standardized

format, coupled with computerized scoring, reduces the potential for favouritism,

bias, or subjective evaluations. On the other hand, subjective human judgment

enters into the testing process at various stages—e.g., in the selection and

presentation of questions, or in the subject matter and phrasing of both questions

and answers. Subjectivity also enters into the process when test developers set

passing scores—a decision that can affect how many students pass or fail or how

many achieve a level of performance considered to be “proficient.”

Standardized tests may be used for a wide variety of educational purposes. For

example, they may be used to determine a young child’s readiness for kindergarten,

identify students who need special-education services or specialized academic

support, place students in different academic programs or course levels, or award

diplomas and other educational certificates.

The following are a few representative examples of the most common forms of

standardized test:

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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  Achievement tests are designed to measure the knowledge and skills

students learned in school or to determine the academic progress they have

made over a period of time. The tests may also be used to evaluate the

effectiveness of a schools and teachers, or identify the appropriate academic

placement for a student—i.e., what courses or programs may be deemed most

suitable, or what forms of academic support they may need. Achievement tests

are “backward-looking” in that they measure how well students have learned

what they were expected to learn.

 Aptitude tests attempt to predict a student’s ability to succeed in an

intellectual or physical endeavor by, for example, evaluating mathematical

ability, language proficiency, abstract reasoning, motor coordination, or musical

talent. Aptitude tests are “forward-looking” in that they typically attempt to

forecast or predict how well students will do in a future educational or career

setting. Aptitude tests are often a source of debate, since many question their

predictive accuracy and value.

 College-admissions tests are used in the process of deciding which

students will be admitted to a collegiate program. While there is a great deal of

debate about the accuracy and utility of college-admissions tests, and many

institutions of higher education no longer require applicants to take them, the

tests are used as indicators of intellectual and academic potential, and some

may consider them predictive of how well an applicant will do in postsecondary

program.

 International-comparison tests are administered periodically to

representative samples of students in a number of countries, including the

United States, for the purposes of monitoring achievement trends in individual

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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 countries and comparing educational performance across countries. A few

widely used examples of international-comparison tests include

the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress

in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), and the Trends in

International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

 Psychological tests, including IQ tests, are used to measure a person’s

cognitive abilities and mental, emotional, developmental, and social

characteristics. Trained professionals, such as school psychologists, typically

administer the tests, which may require students to perform a series of tasks or

solve a set of problems. Psychological tests are often used to identify students

with learning disabilities or other special needs that would qualify them for

specialized services.

The Glossary of Education Reform by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

License

DEBATES

Standardized tests do or do not measure student’s skills properly?

ARGUMENTS/REFUTATION

While debates about standardized testing are wide-ranging, nuanced, and

sometimes emotionally charged, many debates tend to be focused on the ways in

which the tests are used, and whether they present reliable or unreliable evaluations

of student learning, rather than on whether standardized testing is inherently good or

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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bad (although there is certainly debate on this topic as well). Most test developers

and testing experts, for example, caution against using standardized-test scores as

an exclusive measure of educational performance, although many would also

contend that test scores can be a valuable indicator of performance if used

appropriately and judiciously. Generally speaking, standardized testing is more likely

to become an object of debate and controversy when test scores are used to make

consequential decisions about educational policies, schools, teachers, and students.

The tests are less likely to be contentious when they are used to diagnose learning

needs and provide students with better services—although the line separating these

two purposes is notoriously fuzzy in practice (thus, the ongoing debates).

While an exhaustive discussion of standardized-testing debates is beyond the scope

of this resource, the following questions will illustrate a few of the major issues

commonly discussed and debated in the United States:

1. Are numerical scores on a standardized test misleading indicators of student

learning, since standardized tests can only evaluate a narrow range of

achievement using inherently limited methods? Or do the scores provide

accurate, objective, and useful evidence of school, teacher, or student

performance? (Standardized tests don’t measure everything students are

expected to learn in school. A test with 50 multiple-choice questions, for

example, can’t possibly measure all the knowledge and skills a student was

taught, or is expected to learn, in a particular subject area, which is one reason

why some educators and experts caution against using standardized-test

scores as the only indicator of educational performance and success.)

2. Are standardized tests fair to all students because every student takes the

same test and is evaluated in the same way? Do the tests have inherent biases
Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)
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 that may disadvantage certain groups, such as students of color, students who

are unfamiliar with American cultural conventions, students who are not

proficient in English, or students with disabilities that may affect their

performance?

3. Is the use of standardized tests providing valuable information that educators

and school leaders can use to improve instructional quality? Is the pervasive

overuse of testing actually taking up valuable instructional time that could be

better spent teaching students more content and skills?

4. Do the benefits of standardized testing—consistent data on school and

student performance that can be used to inform efforts to improve schools and

teaching—outweigh the costs—the money spent on developing the tests and

analyzing the results, the instructional time teachers spend prepping students,

or the time students spend taking the test?

5. Do math and reading test scores, for example, provide a full and accurate

picture of school, teacher, and student performance? Do standardized tests

focus too narrowly on a few academic subjects?

6. Does the narrow range of academic content evaluated by standardized tests

cause teachers to focus too much on test preparation and a few academic

subjects (a practice known as “teaching to the test”) at the expense of other

worthwhile educational pursuits, such as art, music, health, physical education,

or 21st century skills, for example?

7. Do standardized tests, and the consequences attached to low scores, hold

schools, educators, and students to higher standards and improve the quality of

public education? Do the tests create conditions that undermine effective

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)
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 education, such as cheating, unhealthy forms of competition, or unjustly

negative perceptions of public schooling?

8. Should some of the most important decisions in public education—such as

whether to reduce or increase school funding or fire teachers and principals—

be made entirely or primarily on the basis of test scores? Are standardized-test

scores, which could potentially be misleading or inaccurate, too limited a

measure to use as a basis for such consequential decisions?

Standardized testing is considered important and these tests do assess what is

taught on the national level. They are used to measure objectives and how schools

are meeting educational state standards.

There are three primary reasons for Standardized tests: Comparing among test

takers, Improvement of ongoing instruction and learning, and Evaluation of

instruction.

REFLECTIONS/CONCLUSIONS

Parents and community activists around the country explain that the education

system is failing students. Standardized testing is included in efforts to improve the

education system. Standardized testing gives a detailed account of student

improvement and teacher effectiveness is evaluated, which can show how the

school's effectiveness sits on a national scale.

The idea behind the standardized testing policy movement is that testing is the

first step to improving schools, teaching practice, and educational methods through

data collection.

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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 Standardized testing is used as a public policy strategy to establish stronger

accountability measures for public education.

One of the main advantages of standardized testing is that the results can be

empirically documented; therefore, the test scores can be shown to have a relative

degree of validity and reliability, as well as results, which are generalizable and

replicable.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Standardized testing is truthfully a very difficult issue, because we do need internal

and external assessments to measure student success. Assessments are useful

when they are used as data to help schools improve the quality of the teaching and

learning. They become harmful, however, when tests are used to judge students’

natural abilities and when educators are put under pressure to “teach to the test.”

Schools and parents should always look at standardized tests not as a value

judgement on the student, but as an additional data point that can provide some

perspective on student learning.

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardized_test

The Glossary of Education Reform by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

License

https://www.whitbyschool.org/passionforlearning/the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-

testing

http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/statistics-2/standardised-test-meaning-

characteristics-and-uses-statistics/92603

https://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us/2013/10/standardized-tests-what-they-

really-are.html

Argument Paper on Psycho-Philosophical Foundation of Education (2 nd sem. SY 2018-2019)

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