Koretz Measure Up

Measuring Up was conceived by Koretz as he was constantly approached by students who were annoyed and furious about the misconceptions people had in relation to testing and they believed that these people need to be made aware of what it actually is. They urged him bring up this issue through his writing hoping that the influence of test on public debate about social concerns can be diluted. As they were no straightforward ways for people to be informed of this, he decided to write an accessible but thorough book targeting policymakers, educators and concerned citizens hoping that they could participate in a more sensible debate about testing upon reading his write up (Big, 2012).

In this article, Daniel Koretz has scratched beneath the surface of educational testing in American schools to enlighten readers about the strengths and weaknesses of tests, prevailing influence of tests and how they work in real world, the misinterpretation of testing and key issues that question the validity and reliability of the tests, pivotal concerns that arise in educational testing and the their effects on learners, …show more content…
He notes that only a division of education aims (cognitive-based) are measured through these tests, and goals which focus on soft skills are not given much importance to. He adds that small samplings in these tests are actually inadequate to represent students' mastery of knowledge and skills. Koretz also points out that the accuracy of test scores depend on factors such as careful sampling of content and skills, attitudes of the test takers and how schools prepare learners for the test. Problems in these aspects of testing lead to misinterpretation and misuse of test scores. Koretz has also highlighted the issue of measurement error in terms of test scores in this article. While measurement error is unavoidable, it can be minimised by ensuring the validity and reliability of the