Standardized testing refers to assessments given at the end of the year to see if students have made the required gains according to their grade level. One of the reasons for the tests is that they are used to determine if teachers provide students with quality instructions and whether the students understood some of the key concepts in the instructions. The tests are used to examine the effectiveness of a curriculum and help teachers have a structure about what should be taught. The administration of standardized tests involves giving tests to a large number of students, regardless of their backgrounds. The inconsideration of different backgrounds could result in a cultural bias in the tests. Standardized tests have also been criticized for their inadequacies in measuring intelligence. Standardized tests can be culturally biased and should not be used as the only measure of intelligence.
The current United States population is highly diverse as it involves students from different racial, cultural, ethnical, and linguistic backgrounds. Standardized tests administer similar tests over the entire population without critically considering the differences in the backgrounds of the students. One student from a specific cultural background could be disadvantaged because they could not have the knowledge or cultural experience expected by the evaluator. Most of the testing materials are usually produced for the mainstream middle-class population. Individuals from a different socioeconomic status may thus have challenges in the tests. There can be the possibility of standardized tests being culturally biased towards the examiner. The examiner could place questions based on their experiences and backgrounds rather than the culture of the child. In such instances, the student will experience challenges in performing well at the test.
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One form of cultural bias in standardized tests could occur due to the difference in language use among individuals of different cultures. For instance, the tests can make use of idiomatic expressions that are highly cultural dependent. A student evaluated on a certain idiom may not know the meaning because he or she has never heard it, and it is rarely used in their culture. The sentence structure can vary depending on someone’s background. The sentence structure used by English speakers could be different from that used by Native Americans. Additionally, there are certain words used in one culture that may not be used in another language. The test questions can also be biased as they refer to experiences that students are unfamiliar with or items considered taboo in another culture. There can be problems in languages such as forms of measurement, money, proper nouns, and holidays unique to one culture. Examining the linguistic skills of students from different backgrounds could result in differences in performance.
The impact of cultural bias is evident in the difference in performance between students from different cultural backgrounds shows the cultural bias in the tests. There is a difference in the performance gap between the majority and minority groups. African Americans and Hispanic students usually have the lowest scores in the standardized tests. One of the reasons for this is that standardized tests are usually meant for the larger population and biased towards the majority groups. Additionally, students from a lower socioeconomic status may perform poorly compared to those of a higher income. The poor consideration of the cultural backgrounds of the individuals being tested puts to question the reliability and validity of the tests. The achievement gap can be attributed to the cultural biases in the administration of standardized tests.
Standardized Testing as the Only Measure of Intelligence and Success
Standardized tests have been primarily used to measure the quality of a student’s education and intellect. However, the inherent biases in the tests show that the tests should not be used as the only measure of success. Students from a lower socioeconomic status or minority group can perform poorly in such tests even though they have the same intellectual ability as other students from majority groups. Instead, there is a need to have more tests that consider the difference in the cultural backgrounds of students.
Standardized testing is ineffective in measuring intelligence and success as it is biased in measuring how well a student can sit and take the test. Students that have learned and mastered tricks to beat the system can perform well in such tests. Teachers can overwhelm students with information to study that could appear in the tests. The student can end up binge studying and never retain most of the necessary information. Placing a student’s entire future on a short time of about three to four hours can be unfair to some students. The student can be nervous and stressed when taking such tests and may not perform as required. There is a need for an alternative approach to standardized testing that can gradually monitor the student’s performance.
Many students are skilled and excel in music, foreign languages, and art, but these skills are not examined on standardized tests. Measuring a student’s intelligence by only considering certain parts of their education and development is unfair. A weak student in science and math can have an overall below-average score and is regarded as performing below the required standards. However, the student could be exceptionally bright in other areas. Standardized tests do not acknowledge that students are different and have different talents and skills. Tests made for the standard student cannot by themselves accurately measure intelligence and an individual's success.
The alternative approach to standardized tests could involve using multiple measures to measure intelligence. For instance, there can be different kinds of data gathered regarding the progress of the student and the performance of the school. The data could involve combining information from different sources such as teacher-created assessments, graduation rates, and demographic information. The information can be used to measure the overall performance of the student and the institution.
The addition of other tests that should measure the different abilities of the students, such as their performance in art and social and emotional skills, can provide a better assessment of a student’s intelligence. Testing that examines performance in art will incorporate students that are artistic and skilled in different activities like music and painting. Additionally, social and emotional intelligence are also critical for the long-term success of the student. There can be additional tests that measure nonacademic qualities like curiosity, perseverance, and grit. The use of more interactive testing, such as game-based assessments, can measure problem-solving and higher-ordered thinking.
In conclusion, standardized testing can be culturally biased as it does not consider the cultural backgrounds of students. The tests may also be ineffective in measuring the intellectual ability and success of students. The recommendation is to reconsider the current policies in standardized testing. There is a need to have tests that consider the cultural background of the students. The minority groups were most negatively impacted by the tests. Incorporating additional tests for the minority population that consider their backgrounds and experiences would result in more effective testing. Additionally, standardized tests should be improved in measuring the intelligence of students. The tests can incorporate additional measures of other skills such as art and social and emotional skills. Additional data can be incorporated to measure student’s performances.
