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John F. Kennedy (U.S President, 20th Century)
People do not have equal talents. Butall individuals should have an equalopportunity to develop their talents
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What is standardized tests?
Tests that have uniform procedure for
administration and scoring. They assess
students; performance in different domains andallow a students performance to be compared
with the performance of other students at the
same age or grade on a national basis (Airasian,
2005; Chatterji, 2003)
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What are the purposes of standardized tests?
Standardized teste can serve a number ofpurposes:
Provide information about students progress
compared with students elsewhere in the stateor nation.
Diagnose students strength and weakness
(Popham, 2005). For diagnostic purposes,
standardized tests are given individuallyrather
than to a group of students.
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What are the purposes of standardized tests?
Provide evidence for placement of students inspecific programs. To make decision whether a
student should be allowed to enter a specific
program, skip a grade, to graduate or todetermine their suitability for a particular
careers.
Provide information for planning andimproving instruction. Inform teacher about
how affective their instruction has been,
information that could be used to continue
similar instruction or modify it accordingly.
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What are the purposes of standardized tests?
Help administration evaluate programs.Students scores on a relevant standardized test
can be used along with other evidence to
determine the effectiveness of the program.Contribute to accountability. Schools and
teachers are increasingly being held
accountable for students learning. This has ledto the creation of standard-based tests, which
assess skills that students are expected to
mastered before they can be promoted or be
allowed to graduate.
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A standardized tests not be the ONLY
method for evaluating a students
learning. Nor should standardized
tests by themselves be consideredsufficient information in holding
schools accountable for students
learning (Popham, 2005; Taylor &Nolen, 2005)
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
Important criteria for evaluating standardizedtests are:
a. Norms- To understand an individual students
performance on a test, it needs to be comparedwith the performance of the norm group ( A
group of similar individual who previously were
given the tests by the test maker).
The test is said to be based on national norms
when the norm group consists of a nationally
representative group of students.
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
The norms group should include students from
urban, suburban, rural arears; differentgeographical regions; private and public
schools; boys and girls; and different ethnic
groups. Based on individual students score on
the standardized test, teacher can determine
whether a student is performing above, on a
level or below a national norm (Freeland, 2005;
Gregory, 2007)The evaluations of a students test
performance might differ, depending on what
norm group is used.
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
b. Validity The extent to which a test measureswhat it is intended to measure and whether
inferences about the test scores are accurate
(AERA, 1999; McMillan, 2002)In terms of the test characteristics, three types
of validity can be described:
i. Content validitywhich is the tests ability tosample the content that is to be measured.
ii. Criterion validitywhich is the tests ability
to predict a students performance as measured
by other assessments or criteria.
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
iii. Construct validity is the extent to whichthere is evidence that a test measures a
particular construct. A construct is an
unobservable trait or characteristic of a person,such as intelligence, learning style, personality
or anxiety.
c. Reliability is the extent to which a test
produces a consistent, reproducible score. To
be called reliable, scores must be stable,
dependable and relatively free from errors of
measurement (Gronlund, 2006; Popham, 2006)
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
Reliability can be measured in several ways:i. Test-retest reliability- the extent to which a
test yields the same performance when a
students is given the same test on twooccasions.
ii. Alternate forms reliability- judged by giving
different forms of the same test on two
different occasions to the same group of
students to determine how consistent their
score are.
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What are the criterias for evaluating standardized tests?
iii. Split-half reliability judged by dividing thetests items into two halves, such as the odd-
numberes and even-numbered items. The
scores on the two sets of items are compared todetermine how consistently the students
performed across each set.
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Validity and reliability are related (Gregory,
2007). A test that is valid is reliable but a testthat is reliable is not necessary valid.
People can respond consistently on a test but
the test might not be measuring what ispurports to measure (You have three darts to
throw. If all three fall close together, you have
reliability. However you have validity only if all
three hit the bulls-eye)
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d. Fairness and Bias Fair test are unbiased
and nondiscriminatory (McMillan, 2004). They
are not influenced by factors such as gender,ethnicity or subjective factors such as the bias
of a scorer. When tests are fair, students have
the opportunity to demonstrate their learningso that their performance is not affected by
their gender, ethnicity, disability or factors
unrelated to the purpose of the test.
An unfair test is a test that puts a particular
group of students at a disadvantage (Popham,
2006; Reynolds, Livingstone & Willson, 2006)
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For instance, a test that is supposed to assess
writing skills asks students to write a short storyabout a boy who practices very hard to be good
in football and makes the team. Clearly this
type of item will be easier for boys than girlsbecause boys are generally more familiar with
football, so the test will be unfair to girls as an
assessment of their writing skills.
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Discussion:
1. What is meant by standardized test? What
are the uses of standardized test?
2. What do norms, validity, reliability and
fairness have to do with judging the quality of astandardized test?
3. Can a test be valid but not reliable? Reliable
but not valid? Explain in your own words.
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Aptitude & achievement testsThere are two main types of standardized tests:
a. Aptitude tests a type of test that is used topredict a students ability to learn a skill or
accomplish something with further education
and training. They also include tests used topredict success in specific academic subjects or
occupational areas (Thorndike, 2005)
b. Achievement tests is a test that measures
what the student has learned or what skills the
student has mastered (Aiken & Groth-Marnat,
2006; Gronlund, 2006)
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Aptitude & achievement tests
Both types of tests assess a students currentstatus, the questions they use are often quite
similar and usually the results of the two kinds
of test are highly correlated.The SAT taken by students for admission to
college is usually described as an aptitude test
but the SAT can be achievement test too
depending on the purpose for which it is used.
(To predict success in college aptitude test; to
determine what have been learned
achievement test)
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Types of standardized testsa. Survey batteries is a group of individual
subject matter tests that is designed for aparticular level of students. Survey batteries
are the most widely used national norm-
referenced standardized tests (McMillan, 2004)b. Tests for specific subjects some SAT assess
skills in a particular area such as reading or
mathematics. Because they focus on a specific
area, they usually assess the skill in a more
detailed, extensive way.
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Types of standardized tests
c. Diagnostic tests consists of a relatively in-depth evaluation of a specific area of learning.
Its purpose is to determine the specific learning
needs of a student so that those needs can be
met through regular or remedial instruction.
For a test to be effective in diagnosis it should
have several test items for each skill orobjective that is measures (McMillan, 2004)
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Types of standardized tests
d. High-Stakes State Standards-Based Tests The early state-mandated assessments simply
provided an overall view of how students in a
state were performing in certain subject areas,especially reading and mathematics.
1990 efforts began to connect state-mandated
standard-based testing to state-endorsed
instructional objectives (objectives that every
student in the state is expected to achieve)
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Types of standardized tests
Possible advantages and uses of High-Stakes
Testing:
i. Improved student performance
ii. More time teaching the subjects testediii. High expectations for all students
iv. Identification of poorly performing schools,
teachers and administratorsv. Improved confidence in schools as test
scores increase
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Types of standardized tests
Criticism of State Standard-Based Tests:
i. Dumbing down of the curriculum with
greater emphasis on rote memorization than on
problem-solving and criticaal thinking skills.ii. Teaching to the test. Teachers teach
knowledge and skills that are to be covered on
the state tests (Bransford & others, 2005;Gallagher, 2000)
iii. Discrimination against low-socioeconomic-
status and ethnic minority children. This results
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Types of standardized tests
when disproportionate percentages of these
children do not meet the state standards, while
higher-SES and non-latino white students do
(researchers have found that students who areplaced in the lowest track or remedial pograms-
disproportionately low-income and minority
students-are most likely to experiencesubsequent inferior teaching and reduced
achievement (Cooper & Sherk, 1989;Oakes,
1990)
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Types of standardized tests
e. District and National Tests. District-
Mandated Tests and National assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP). Malaysia are all
public examinations run by LPM and MPM.f. Standardized Tests of Teacher Candidates.
Many teacher candidates are required to take
some version of PRAXIS tests or a test createdby an individual state. The PRAXIS tests and
state test for teachers (licensing exam).
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Types of standardized testsThe tests used by state for licensing of teacher
candidates assess (i) basic skills or generalacademic ability, (2) subject matter knowledge
(3) pedagogical knowledge.
The PRAXIS tests consist of (1) PRAXIS I preliminary screening of basic skills, taken early
in undergraduate program or before student
admitted to a teacher certification program. (2)
PRAXIS II to ensure student know heir
specialty content areas and or effective
pedagogy before being awarded a preliminary
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Types of standardized testsTeaching knowledge for student learning,
creating an environment for student learning,teaching for student learning and teacher
professionalism.
Taken in the junior or senior year ofundergraduate school. (3) PRAXIS III tests are
assessment of classroom teaching performance.
They are administered during the first year of
teaching and can be used as part of a licensing
decision. Tests include essays, oral response
tests, listening tasks, portfolio reviews, video
stimuli and in classroom observation.
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Types of standardized testsCriticisms of current PRAXIS. Three such
criticisms (Darling-Hammond & Baratz-Snowden, 2005):
i. Tests assess low-level or marginally relevant
knowledge and skills rather than deepknowledge of subject matter and actual
teaching skills
ii. The cutoff scores for the tests sometimes are
low or not enforced. If state are experiencing a
shortage of teachers, they often waive the
testing requirement and hire individuals who
have failed the test.
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Types of standardized testsiii. There is a lack of consistency across that has
restricted teacher mobility. This is especially aproblem because some states have teacher surpluses,
others teacher shortages.
The call for a National Test for Teacher candidates.
The national test should assess a common core of
knowledge for professional preparation including how
to create learning opportunities that make subjects
accessible to all students. The National Academy of
Education also recommended that the test results
should be incorporated into state licensing
requirements.
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Discussion:1. How clearly do aptitude and achievement tests
differ in purpose? In form?2. What are survey batteries, specific subject tests,
and diagnosis tests?
3. What are some possible advantages to high-stakes
state standard-based testing and what are someways their results are being used? What are some
criticisms of high-stakes state standard-based
testing?
4. What is the argument for National standardized
testing? Why is it resisted?
5. How can standardized tests of teachers be
characterized?