A typical standardized test is a formal summative assessment
because it is normally testing a student’s knowledge after the material is
already learned to see what they know.
This is a way for school districts to assess the progress of students in
a formal way. They are formal because
they’re in a test setting, pre-planned, and students have time to prepare.
An assessment can be reliable but have poor validity. Reliability refers to the consistency of test
results while validity refers to the extent to which an assessment actually
measures what it is intended to measure.
Just because the assessment can is
reliable and contains consistent test scores no matter how many times it is taken, doesn’t mean that the assessment
shows validity and measures what is supposed to be measured. Test might not be valid if they are bias to
certain cultural groups. An example of a test that is reliable but not valid
would be a teacher giving students a test on the names of different shapes that was learned in first grade when the students are now in third grade. The students may all get
consistent grades every time they take the test, but the test isn’t valid because it’s covering material that
should already be mastered. A valid test would contain new material on shapes and higher level concepts since they're now in an older grade and should know third grade standards of shapes.
Tests may not be standardized for all cultural groups. According to the reading research shows that
American-born ethnic groups don’t have a disadvantage on well-constructed
tests. But students who are from
different cultural groups might face questions that they can’t answer because
it’s presented in a group-specific way or the wording may be unfamiliar. By having some standardized tests be culturally
biased, students from other cultural groups may have more difficulties with
certain questions making these tests not equitable for all students.
No comments:
Post a Comment