Standardized Test

Introduction

Standardized Testing in my definition and milieu is measuring student’s progress as part of the school’s quality assurance and is the consistent conformance to educational policy within existing curriculum evaluation, aligning to the institution, state, and political agenda.

The implementation of Standardized Testing can be seen in mainland China’s gaokao, Hong Kong’s DSE (Diploma of Secondary Education), and South Korea’s suneung. These are all top-performing Asian regions for stiff college entrance tests and a highly competitive admissions environment for students (Moon, 2018)

This discussion will outline the positive and negative approaches for standardized testing and demonstrate a practice in my institution for certain Standardized Testing for undergraduate students.

Positive and Negative Approaches

The role of Standardized Test as assessment of learning where a learner’s academic performance is measured to assess between benchmarks and instructional design to positively impact student achievement. It also acts as assessment for learning as a form of feedback used to improve students’ performance in their formative and summative assessment. Teachers will guide students to make the grade for National Examinations or Standardized Test. The other positive aspect is assessment on learning where students can use the standardized score as an ongoing self-assessment to monitor their own learning and make adjustment to achieve deeper understanding for the subject matter (Professional Development Resource, n.d.)

Too much testing could also lead to significant pressure on students and teachers to learn and teach for a test. This could lead to the wrong motive for learning focussing on passing the test itself. Parents might also be anxious giving more pressure to children at home. Standardized test that dominates academic and student life in the classroom may trigger anxiety if conducted too regularly. This might lead to poor performance, absenteeism, and lower self-confidence. More than 50% of students took teacher-developed tests more than once a month in Singapore, Spain, and Taipei (OECD, 2017)

We have seen standardized test differs from country to country and the purpose varies in each of the context in which standardized tests are implemented. Test standards varies between schools and standardized tests are subject to changes based on the educational policy (Salaky, 2018)

Teachers can have different viewpoints on standardized testing, but they cannot move away from the debate of the merits of standardized testing as some strongly believe that this enable the educator to quantify the underachievers so that corrective action can be taken to direct these underachievers into the curriculum design that better fit their needs. We know that standardized tests measure only a part of what the school should be doing, hence effective teachers focus on student’s behaviours that lead to success and not just on test scores. Effective administration of class test does not only focus on Standardized test achievement, as teacher can describe their student’s achievement in a broader context?(Moon, 2018)

My milieu in Standardized Testing

As a teacher teaching diploma student in Business education, I had the opportunity to conduct a multiple-choice standardized test for students to advance to their undergraduate studies. My personal view regarding standardized testing is to affect discussions with my peers, administrators, educational policy makers, principal of the school and parents too. These stakeholders recognized that the actual curriculum and student learning has shifted from creation of knowledge, content, and research to one main purpose on passing the test. This superficially escalate the high passing rate of our students so that they can progress to the next level. However, we realized that the attrition rate of our students making the undergraduate studies fall by 20% and in addition some 15% did not graduate on time.

This informed us that not all standardized test measures what it aims to measure. A more equitable system should be considered, so that for those who did not make the test, they can be given other alternatives. Perhaps students who did not pass the test, might be given an assessment on learning to evaluate how they construct their own learning justifying their attainment. (Whitaker & Whitaker, 2020)

Conclusion

The intention of promoting Standardized Tests is based on the how the curriculum evaluation by policy makers, government, educators, and parents are constructed, negotiated, and implemented. The critical question is “Are test-driven curriculum and teacher-centred instruction good or bad for teachers, school, students, communities, and education in general?” (Au, 2007). This paper has illustrated my practice that not all Standardized test leads to equitable education for all students. The attrition rate of 20% fall out for undergraduate studies at my school is evident based that not all Standardized Test works for all students.

References

Au, W. (July, 2007). High-Stakes Testing and Curricular Control: A Qualitative Metasynthesis. Educational Researcher, 36(5), 258-267. Retrieved from https://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT7050/articles/Au.pdf

Moon, L. (9 June, 2018). Inside Asia’s pressure-cooker exam system, which region has it the worst? Retrieved from South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2149978/inside-asias-pressure-cooker-exam-sytem-which-region-has-it-worst

OECD. (2017). Is too much testing bad for student performance and well-being? PISA in Focus, 79.

Resource, P. D. (n.d.). Professional Development Resource. Retrieved 23 May, 2021, from Professional Development Resource: https://preserviceteacherresource.weebly.com/assessment-role.html

Salaky, K. (2018). Here's what standardized tests look like around the world. Insider.

Whitaker, T., & Whitaker, B. (2020). What About These Darn Standardized Tests? In T. Whitaker, & B. Whitaker, Study Guide: What Great Teachers Do Differently (p. 5). Taylor & Francis.

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