Does a standardized test measure a student’s intelligence or ability to think critically? How does the ACT and SAT play a big role in placing students in categories without any real concept of that student’s capabilities? There are many reasons a standardized test is used; these reasons are to get an idea of where a student is academically in the school year, to see how much a grade has improved, as well as, what schools a student can attend throughout their schooling careers. Standardized tests have a variety of different uses, but unfortunately do not define any particular student’s intellect.
On standardized exams, all test takers answer the same questions under the same conditions. They have the same time limit, the same test setting, …show more content…
In some way the test scores do differentiate students, yet, it does not specifically provide a synopsis of every student’s mind-set and intellect. The goal of most standardized tests is to sort out students and rank them according to their test scores. In order to do this, test makers must make small differences in grades appear larger than others would originally see. For example, questions that most students get right or wrong are removed because they do not help with ranking that student. This is solely because of measurement error. Measurement error is the idea in which two people with very different scores on one exam get similar scores on a retest, or vice versa. On tests like the ACT or SAT, two students' scores must differ by at least 3 points on the ACT, or 144 points on the SAT before the test’s sponsors are willing to say the students' measured abilities really …show more content…
While our understanding of the brain and how people learn and think has progressed enormously, standardized tests have remained the same. Test makers still assume that knowledge can be broken into separate bits and that people learn by absorbing these individual parts. Today, psychologists understand that knowledge is not separable bits and that students who take these particular tests learn by connecting what they already know with what they are trying to learn. If they cannot actively make meaning out of what they are doing, they do not learn or remember what they learned. For example, if a student happens to learn about the Cold War in an AP U.S History class, they may not necessarily remember everything they learned in that class the following months ahead. Along with these teaching methods come distinct test making methods. One of the biggest test making methods questions is whether or not multiple-choice measure important student achievement versus a short answer test? These kinds of tests are very poor in quality of helping a student learn. They very weakly measure a student’s ability to comprehend complex material. Nor do they accurately measure thinking skills for what people can implement in their daily
On standardized exams, all test takers answer the same questions under the same conditions. They have the same time limit, the same test setting, …show more content…
In some way the test scores do differentiate students, yet, it does not specifically provide a synopsis of every student’s mind-set and intellect. The goal of most standardized tests is to sort out students and rank them according to their test scores. In order to do this, test makers must make small differences in grades appear larger than others would originally see. For example, questions that most students get right or wrong are removed because they do not help with ranking that student. This is solely because of measurement error. Measurement error is the idea in which two people with very different scores on one exam get similar scores on a retest, or vice versa. On tests like the ACT or SAT, two students' scores must differ by at least 3 points on the ACT, or 144 points on the SAT before the test’s sponsors are willing to say the students' measured abilities really …show more content…
While our understanding of the brain and how people learn and think has progressed enormously, standardized tests have remained the same. Test makers still assume that knowledge can be broken into separate bits and that people learn by absorbing these individual parts. Today, psychologists understand that knowledge is not separable bits and that students who take these particular tests learn by connecting what they already know with what they are trying to learn. If they cannot actively make meaning out of what they are doing, they do not learn or remember what they learned. For example, if a student happens to learn about the Cold War in an AP U.S History class, they may not necessarily remember everything they learned in that class the following months ahead. Along with these teaching methods come distinct test making methods. One of the biggest test making methods questions is whether or not multiple-choice measure important student achievement versus a short answer test? These kinds of tests are very poor in quality of helping a student learn. They very weakly measure a student’s ability to comprehend complex material. Nor do they accurately measure thinking skills for what people can implement in their daily