My area of interest is to investigate whether test scores accurately measure students’ achievements. The United States has always used standardized test scores as a basis to promote students to the next level, evaluate performance of teachers, and develop policies (Shavelson et al., 2010). My objective is to evaluate the reliability of the test scores in measuring the aforementioned aspects.
From experience and knowledge learnt, use of test scores is not an accurate means of measuring the achievement of students. Usually, students with low scores are perceived to be weak in the test areas. This assumption may be false because performance in the tests is influenced by numerous factors. For instance, children from stable backgrounds may perform better than those from poor backgrounds. The reason is that students from troubled or poor families may have bad moods when doing the tests, and consequently perform poorly (Tienken, 2017). Therefore, use of test scores to measure student achievement is a method full of errors.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The knowledge and experience does not address performance of students in higher institutions of learning such as colleges and universities. Rather, the information only seeks to address performance of students up to third grade.
My project seeks to address the problem specifically by comparing the effectiveness of class assessments with standardized test scores in measuring student improvement. The aim is to push for the implementation of continuous class assessments as a better measure of student improvement.
The purpose of the project is to prove that test scores are not the best methods of evaluating student achievement. On the contrary, continuous class assessments are a better option. The intended audience is policy makers in the education sector.
The best type of advanced project that will suit my objectives is a research paper.
The methods of investigation I will pursue include; conducting research in the library, and use of online scholarly sources. The type of research will mainly be qualitative in nature.
References
Shavelson, R. J., Linn, R. L., Baker, E. L., Ladd, H. F., Darling-Hammond, L., Shepard, L. A., & Rothstein, R. (2010). Problems with the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute .
Tienken, C. (2017). Students’ test scores tell us more about the community they live in than what they know. The Conversation . http://theconversation.com/students-test-scores-tell-us-more-about-the-community-they-live-in-than-what-they-know-77934
