Testing Strengths And Weaknesses

The purpose of testing can be defined in multiple facets. Blatantly, testing is done in an educational setting to check for understanding. A teacher tests their students to confirm that learning has taken place. Although, testing is so much more than that. Billings (2011) states, “the problem with today’s testing movement does not lie with the test itself” (p. 211). A valid and reliable test is an admirable way to measure part of the accountability of an educator. He argues that that the problem with tests is that, “tests are rushed through just for the sake of a score and then linked to high stakes” (p.211). Today, testing is one of the many forms of assessment, these forms will be discussed briefly later. Predominantly in today’s public school, …show more content…
These would be strengths and weaknesses’ of both instructor and student. By analyzing for strengths and weaknesses teachers are able to reflect on teaching practices and modify assessments. Additionally, students are able to identify content on the assessment and within their learning that wasn’t proficient. When using a test as an assessment at the end of a course or unit, teachers are utilizing summative assessment. Furthermore, when assessing throughout the unit the teacher utilizing formative assessment. Formative assessment is, “used to check students understanding and to plan subsequent instruction” (Kharbach). Formative assessments include: observations, questions, and discussions. Summative assessment, “provides teachers and students with information about the attainment of content knowledge” (Kharbach). Summative assessments include: state mandated tests, district benchmarks, end of unit chapter tests, and end of semester exams. Mooney, Sonnentag & Dulaney (2016, p. 7) note, “in addition to traditional classroom assessment activities (i.e., tests), many students engage in some kind of content immersive activity in order to further their grasp of course concepts”. It’s important for instructors to use a variety of formative and summative assessments to gather strengths and and weaknesses of teaching practices as well as students learning. By utilizing a variety of assessments, strengths and …show more content…
Testing should be a part of a teacher’s yearly evaluation. Notice the emphasis on part, the teacher’s evaluation should also include variables like classroom observations, school involvement, and professionalism. Testing’s contribution to teacher evaluation can’t be ignored. Although Noddings (2012) notes, “today too many policymakers emphasize narrow aims”. Their focus on high stakes standardized testing has taken over public education. Veteran teachers realize that testing needs to part of evaluation but not the sole contribution, Noddings writes “responsible educators have long warned that the aims of education cannot be justifiably constraint” (p. 205). More popular today for teacher evaluation are Value Added Models (VAM), these models are “designed to evaluate student test scores gains from one year to the next” (Darling-Hammond, Beardsley, Haertel, and Rothstein, 2012, p.8). Because standardized testing has become such a focus of modern day teacher evaluation VAMs place an emphasis on growth from year to year rather than a single raw score. VAMs allow researchers to use statistical approaches to measure fluctuations in student scores overtime while bearing in mind student characteristics and other features found to impact achievement (Darling- Hammond et al., 2012). With the use of such a system for teacher evaluation school and districts can be sure that their focus is on growing outcome