What are the advantages to testing?
Originally designed in 1900 to allow interested students who had not gone to a prestigious high school participate in a standardized test that showed they were ready to attend college, the SAT aimed to expand access to higher education. In this way, standardized testing has been successful, more students, from more diverse backgrounds, than ever are attending.
Also, since high schools vary in achievement levels of their students, standardized tests offer a standard to compare students across schools, and gives students from lower performing high schools an opportunity to show they have the ability to be successful. Solid test scores let students know that they are ready and able for college-level coursework. Standardized tests are a tool, that when taken along with high school grade point average, are effective in predicting a student’s success in college.
What are the disadvantages to testing? “Human intelligence is so multifaceted, so complex, so varied, that no standardized testing system can be expected to capture it,” William Hiss, NPR …show more content…
By putting so much emphasis on test scores, other significant college readiness factors are over-looked, such as eagerness and enthusiasm in the classroom, creativity, and deeper thinking. Furthermore, there appears to be a disconnect to students who are not exposed to rigorous coursework in their high school. These students are automatically disadvantaged because the best preparation for the standardized testing is rigorous college level coursework. Also, no matter how hard the test developers try, there are biases inherent in the test question and format itself. There are also students who don’t perform well on standardized testing, so the test is not an accurate picture of their learning
Originally designed in 1900 to allow interested students who had not gone to a prestigious high school participate in a standardized test that showed they were ready to attend college, the SAT aimed to expand access to higher education. In this way, standardized testing has been successful, more students, from more diverse backgrounds, than ever are attending.
Also, since high schools vary in achievement levels of their students, standardized tests offer a standard to compare students across schools, and gives students from lower performing high schools an opportunity to show they have the ability to be successful. Solid test scores let students know that they are ready and able for college-level coursework. Standardized tests are a tool, that when taken along with high school grade point average, are effective in predicting a student’s success in college.
What are the disadvantages to testing? “Human intelligence is so multifaceted, so complex, so varied, that no standardized testing system can be expected to capture it,” William Hiss, NPR …show more content…
By putting so much emphasis on test scores, other significant college readiness factors are over-looked, such as eagerness and enthusiasm in the classroom, creativity, and deeper thinking. Furthermore, there appears to be a disconnect to students who are not exposed to rigorous coursework in their high school. These students are automatically disadvantaged because the best preparation for the standardized testing is rigorous college level coursework. Also, no matter how hard the test developers try, there are biases inherent in the test question and format itself. There are also students who don’t perform well on standardized testing, so the test is not an accurate picture of their learning