Standardized testing is any examination which is administered and scored in a standard and predetermined manner. Having been a student and a tutor, I have had experience with standardized testing, both positive and negative experiences. For example, one of the positive experiences that I have had with standardized testing as a tutor is that it enabled me to learn about the entry behaviour of students concerning a particular area of knowledge or skill. However, the negative experience with standardized is that it does not capture does all aspects of one’s abilities. Standardized testing does not accurately reflect one’s true knowledge and skills. This is because one might be knowledgeable in one area of the subject and not the other. In addition, different people have different abilities and using standardized testing does not capture all their abilities. As such, depending on how it has been designed, standardized manages to capture particular abilities while failing to capture others. For example, asking all students to explain a particular phenomenon is likely to fail to capture the abilities of those students who are good at illustrating the same phenomenon.
The standardized is not an appropriate instrument for measuring the effectiveness of schools and teachers. This is because in standardized testing, it is typically assumed that all schools and teachers have similar abilities. It fails to capture the diversity that exists among schools and teachers. The other methods which can be used to assess students, teachers and school include written reflections, in-class activities, skill evaluation, and resource based assessment. Written observations, for example, allow one to learn about what a particular student or teacher is best equipped to handle.
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