Blog Post 2

A typical standardized test is a formal, summative assessment that is not based on performance. We can tell because the tests are preplanned and are used to measure the knowledge students have on the given subjects, which makes it formal. It is summative because it is used to assess how well a teacher is conveying the material. They are used as means to assess the teach as well as the student. 

An assessment can be reliable but have poor validity. This means that the assessment very well could be ranking a child in a certain percentile based on their knowledge of the content, but it may not show the intelligence overall of that individual nor would it show the quality of the teacher conveying the material to students. For instance, standardized tests are usually multiple choice and have a set of answers students can choose from. The only answer scored is the answer the student circles. the tests do not show the process in which the student came to that answer. These tests do not show what te students need to work on specifically. 

Standardized tests are by no means 'standardized'. These tests are specifically designed for middle class individuals with a moderate education. the questions are extremely bias and assume that all schools have the same resources, which is not the case. One specific way that these types of tests are inequitable to some populations is when the tests give pictures or examples of globes or certain resources that not all schools can afford, students get these questions wrong because they don't know what the object is or how it is used. Also, the wording in many cases may be too confusing for some students who are at a lower reading level than they should be at their grade.