"SCHOOL-BASED STANDARD TESTING"

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze an article by Crag Bollon (2000) on standard testing. The article is first summarized in terms of its main ideas and themes. This is followed by an examination of the advantages and disadvantages discussed by Bollon regarding standard testing. The review ends with a brief conclusions section.

Stating that school-based standardized testing in contemporary America is now being extensively used for policy and educational decision making, Bollon (2000) examines various issues historically associated with standardized testing for school children. Psychometrically problematic elements associated with the use of standard tests measuring aptitude, achievement, and ability are then discussed. In addition, the article presents a review of the advantages and disadvantages of alternative assessment techniques.

The main ideas in the article are that school based standardized testing has been historically misused and that many problems stop standard tests from achieving the objective, uniform standard of measurement they wish to obtain. It is also noted that while alternatives to standard tests hold some real promise, they also are not without problems.

Several remedies are suggested to overcome the difficulties that so often accompany the use of standard tests for assessing students' aptitudes, achievement le

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ding them out to interview with potential employers. This practice has increased employer satisfaction with job performance. Errors of Testing All measurements are subject to potential error. Compared with physical measurements, the errors in standard test scores are enormous. There are many sources of error. These include: Mechanical errors in transcribing short answers or multiple choice answers Consistency errors in scoring essays or extended answers Computer errors when calculating or reporting results Systematic errors from varying difficulty of different test versions Random errors arising from the physical or mental states of test-takers Bias errors: test designs that favor some groups of test-takers over others Content errors: test items that do not accurately cover the intended material Vendors and promoters of standard tests do not often discuss errors of testing. When they do, they usually bury information in opaque language, tables and formulas found in "technical reports" that may be hard to obtain. Careful reading of such
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 9484
Approximate Pages = 38 (250 words per page)