In 2001, the government passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in an effort reaching 100% proficiency of all groups of students in America by the year 2014. As per the act’s mandate, standardized tests are administered as the mechanism to measure the performance of the students, teachers and the schools. The primary purpose of these tests was to raise teachers’ accountability and improve students’ achievement. This raises an important question: Is standardized testing the greatest medium to accomplish these goals? The fairness and the reliability of the standardized tests is questionable. Moreover, standardized tests evaluate only a few specific skills such as reading, mathematics and writing. Standardized testing is unfair for students
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In the context of NCLB act, the standardized test evaluates the knowledge and skills to compare students of the same age and grade level (Popham 8). Two types of standardized tests are commonly used in evaluating the performance of the students and schools. The aptitude tests such as Standardized Aptitude Tests (SAT) and American College Testing (ACT) estimate how likely a student is to succeed in college, whereas the achievement tests such as Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are used to evaluate the school’s performance. However, several studies have questioned how appropriate these tests are as performance indicators. For example, in a three-year study, Hiss and Franks examined data from more than 123,000 student records at four-year colleges and universities that do not require SAT or ACT scores for admission. They found that the high school grades are most predictive of students’ success in these colleges, despite wide variations in testing, whereas despite the standardized testing, SAT scores were not strong predictors of their performance in college as measured by their grades and graduation rates (Hiss and Franks 3). While the high school grades are a useful predictor, they are not a complete picture of the student’s achievement and …show more content…
Jardine defines authentic assessment as “evaluation that makes use of real life tasks rather than contrived test items” (Jardine 252). Providing the criteria that make a test authentic, the author explains why portfolio assessments are authentic tests and what the teacher and student need to know before using a portfolio assessment as an authentic test. According to the author, the important purposes of portfolio are to show growth over time, to show process as well as product, to communicate with a student’s subsequent teacher, to create a collection of favorite work, and to revise instruction, for program evaluation and for parent conferences (252). For an effective assessment, the teacher must decide how the student will be evaluated in portfolio before developing its content. Students should also know the evaluation criteria. To be an authentic test, the portfolio should not contain a random set of skills. The included skill sets should have goals, objectives, and purpose. It also requires the mechanism to allow self-reflection of one’s performance as one of the key features of portfolio
In the context of NCLB act, the standardized test evaluates the knowledge and skills to compare students of the same age and grade level (Popham 8). Two types of standardized tests are commonly used in evaluating the performance of the students and schools. The aptitude tests such as Standardized Aptitude Tests (SAT) and American College Testing (ACT) estimate how likely a student is to succeed in college, whereas the achievement tests such as Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are used to evaluate the school’s performance. However, several studies have questioned how appropriate these tests are as performance indicators. For example, in a three-year study, Hiss and Franks examined data from more than 123,000 student records at four-year colleges and universities that do not require SAT or ACT scores for admission. They found that the high school grades are most predictive of students’ success in these colleges, despite wide variations in testing, whereas despite the standardized testing, SAT scores were not strong predictors of their performance in college as measured by their grades and graduation rates (Hiss and Franks 3). While the high school grades are a useful predictor, they are not a complete picture of the student’s achievement and …show more content…
Jardine defines authentic assessment as “evaluation that makes use of real life tasks rather than contrived test items” (Jardine 252). Providing the criteria that make a test authentic, the author explains why portfolio assessments are authentic tests and what the teacher and student need to know before using a portfolio assessment as an authentic test. According to the author, the important purposes of portfolio are to show growth over time, to show process as well as product, to communicate with a student’s subsequent teacher, to create a collection of favorite work, and to revise instruction, for program evaluation and for parent conferences (252). For an effective assessment, the teacher must decide how the student will be evaluated in portfolio before developing its content. Students should also know the evaluation criteria. To be an authentic test, the portfolio should not contain a random set of skills. The included skill sets should have goals, objectives, and purpose. It also requires the mechanism to allow self-reflection of one’s performance as one of the key features of portfolio