STANDARDIZED TESTING

Standardized testing



Standardized testing

Brief Summary

The topic of diversity has got a lot of importance in every context. It carries a lot of value from the student's context when their tests are carried out. When there is diversity in the language and culture among students, it creates a challenge for the examiners to design the tests accordingly. They need to prepare the tests in a proper way to address the individual need of each student. In this way, students would not face any kind of problem during the exam. The school management has decided to arrange accommodations (e.g., large print, voice recognition programs) for students to further meet their needs. They even decided to raise the test score of the students and made it mandatory. All the school districts were taken into confidence before making this decision. However, it was decided that the school management will follow the guidelines, framework and would even secure their jobs. This particular decision made it tough for teachers and administrators to follow the requirements of the test. The teachers came under immense pressure to ensure the score criteria for the tests. (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2002)

A crucial step was taken by the school management in the wake of following the school test criteria. They decided to change the curriculum to make it easy for them to prepare the test. Like for instance, they prepared the multiple-choice test according with the new curriculum. The unfortunate aspect that was there in the school was the placement of students from low-income and minority-group backgrounds in a lower track and retained them in a small grade. These students were even assigned in a special/remedial education programs which was not needed. They were taught with the outdated curriculum that had no value and the test practice which was used was extremely poor. It was certainly not a fair action taken by the school management. It was clear that the discrimination factor was there, and, it disappointed the families belonging to a low income group. However, the case was different for the children belonging to high class families. They were placed in the “gifted and talented” or college advance programs where they were challenged to research, read, write, explore, collect data, critically think and progress fast. Therefore, there is a need to improve the outcome of standardized testing and increase test scores. Though, schooling should be child centered and not score centered. This is the crucial issue which needs to be discussed in detail. (Haladyna, 2002)

Major issues

The major issue in this topic is the discrimination that has taken place in this school. There is no room for such attitude in any kind of school. When a standardized test and curriculum is followed in the school, it should be for everyone. The school management must create a competitive atmosphere among the students. This will prove to be beneficial for the children because they would learn to face various challenges in their studies. The schools are developed everywhere to create learning ...