Standardized testing: definition, advantages, and disadvantages

Written assignment unit 7

Master of Education, University of the People

EDUC 5220: Curriculum design and instructional decision making

Dr. Kimberly Doerflein

May 26, 2021

 Standardized testing: definition, advantages, and disadvantages

Standardized testing is a type of assessment. For illustrating more information about it,

we will discuss some points of it in this paper. We will discuss the definition, the advantages and

disadvantages and implementation in the actual practice.

Definition

Standardized testing is an assessment method which has unified forms of questions with

previously set answers. It has a standard manner in scoring and administration. “A standardized

test is a test that is given to students in a very consistent manner; meaning that the questions on

the test are all the same, the time given to each student is the same, and the way in which the test

is scored is the same for all students” (Burrows, 2020, para. 2).

Advantages of standardized testing

1. The positive effect on students’ achievement: This type of testing gives motivation for

the students to achieve the best scores. The students always get motivated by competitions. It

also encourages the students for studying and making further revisions.

2. Being reliable measurement for the students’ success: This type of testing is not

affected by local effects or individual desires. The computerized testing and scoring decrease the

effect of human variability on judging and scoring. That decreases the fear of unfairness in

results.

3. Being sure of equal and equivalent content achievement to all students: The

standardized testing makes the teacher concentrate on the core subjects and topics. They have to

be sure that all students get these topics and applied them before giving further side information.
4. Teaching prioritization to the students: It helps the students to concentrate on the core

subjects that can help them in the future in other related subjects. They learn about the important

subjects and information. It makes them focus on what they really need at this stage.

5. Helping the administrators in evaluating the teachers: The unified form of testing not

only evaluate the students, but also evaluate the teachers. The best achievements in the test lead

to the best teachers eventually.

Disadvantages of standardized testing

1. Possibility of leading to negative impact on the education outcomes: Standardized

testing doesn’t help in enhancing the students’ understanding to the curriculum. It doesn’t

enhance the critical thinking or discovering the students’ individual abilities or gifts. “Since

2002, when the United States added more emphasis to standardized testing, it has dropped in

global education rankings. From 2002-2009, the US went from being ranked 18th in the world in

mathematic to being ranked 31st in the world” (Gaille, 2017, para. 8). 

2. Being predictable: Standardized testing can be predictable. The students can predict the

manner of the answers if they know the patterns of them. The high results may not reflect high

level of understanding. That may not lead to a good education on the long term.

3. Considering the students with the same ability for understanding: Standardized

testing doesn’t consider for the special needs or the difference in the abilities of the students. It

doesn’t account for the diversity that exists in the education organizations.

4. The inability of measuring important skills: Standardized testing cannot measure

important and required skills like; curiosity, creativity, empathy, or enthusiasm. It only

concentrates on specific data and may neglect important sides of personal skills. A lot of these

skills are highly demanded in the career market today.

5. Tying the teachers’ evaluation to the test results: Teachers may be raised or fired

according to the test results. This leads the teachers to teach to the test. Accordingly, the quality

of learning decreases.

6. Narrowing the curriculum: It limits the curriculum as it limits the time for the creativity

subjects. The students prefer to spend the time on the core subjects that will be tested. They

concentrate on very limited information.

7. Wasting the time for the test preparation: The teachers and students spend a lot of

time inside the classroom for the test preparation. This time is taken form the actual learning

time. This surly affects the quality of learning and the real learning outcomes.

In my practice

According to my practice, I see it is useful type of testing, but should not be the only type

for evaluation. In the recent situation and during the distance learning, standardized testing

helped in making the minimum required evaluation for the students without making direct

contact. We can use it in the limit that we need and try to avoid the negative effect of it as we

can.

Conclusion

Standardized testing is a type of assessment that use unified forms for questions and

answers. It has advantages and disadvantages like everything around. We should take the benefit

of its advantages and limit the effect of its disadvantages. We should use multiple methods for

evaluation not adopting one single method.

 References

Burrows, B. (2020, August 21). What is a Standardized Test? Study in the USA.

https://www.studyusa.com/en/a/1284/what-is-a-standardized-test.

Gaille, L. (2017, April 19). 12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Testing.

Vittana.org. https://vittana.org/12-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-standardized-testing.