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standardized exams biased
standardized exams biased
rolea of creative thinking in education life
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Standardized tests have been around for many years. During the 1920’s the SAT was known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Syverson 56). According to Steven Syverson, in 1993 the test was renamed as Scholastic Assessment Tests in an effort to reflect the changing nature of the test (56). Jonathan Epstein notes that by 1994, the acronym was removed completely, keeping only the initials SAT (9). The United States Department of Education reports that the Scholastic Assessment Test [known as SAT] measures your ability rather than knowledge and is composed of three sections: writing, critical reading, and math (3). “The American College Testing Program [known as ACT] measures how you think and what you’ve learned in school, it consist of four multiple-choice …show more content…
Standardized testing has been proven to be biased towards those of ethnic and socioeconomic disadvantaged groups. Wealthy students become more prepared for standardized tests through better life experiences, such as top-quality schools and test prep tutors. Steven Syverson implies that students with high SAT scores are presumed to be “bright” and encouraged to consider the most selective colleges, with no regard to their academic performance in high school (57). Those students that were considered elite, but did not perform well their parents suggested to admission counselors that they were “not challenged” in high school (Syverson 57). According to Marchant and Paulson, race, parent education, and family income were found to account as much as 94% of the variance in scores among states (85:62). Students that belong to multiple disadvantage categories suffered greatly in the scoring criteria. The majority of students with socioeconomic disadvantages are discouraged from attending college. However, those that choose to further their education are more than likely the first ones in their family to attend college. Due to the large debate involving the admissions process using the SAT score, more colleges have adopted the SAT Optional policy because it is “consistent with their institutional mission and …show more content…
Creativity is something that isn’t taught but learned through self-reflection. Creativity requires one to be able to express their thoughts through words or other various forms of expression. Creativity allows students to come up with practical solutions to everyday problems when applying them to real life situations. This teaches students that there may be several ways to solve a problem, but no solution is better than the other. “People who are creatively successful go beyond merely performing a job, becoming sources of new ideas, discoveries, and inventions” (Zagursky). Students that are more creative thinkers; instead of, standardized test takers may find it difficult to advance in class. According to Kim Zagursky, the Torrance test is the most widely used creativity test in the world and is the best predictor of creative achievement. The Torrance test, named for creator E. Paul Torrance, was developed in the late 1950s as a potential tool to individualize student instruction (Zagursky). Unfortunately, as time past creativity is becoming less among our students. There is a growing concern for the ability to form their own opinions about ideas they have read. The questions in the Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy was designed to measure creativity, ana¬lytical, practical, and wisdom-based skills and attitudes (DiMaria 55). Sternberg’s policy is currently being used at Oklahoma State
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
The SAT, which is a national standardized test, designed to test skills, accuracy and knowledge of students has always been surrounded by controversies. It was originally created to eliminate the difference between students from different social backgrounds and provide equal level field. The test was developed by a psychologist from Princeton named Dr Carl Brigham in 1926, who also had controversial views on race, that suggested Anglo-Saxons were more intelligent than Other Races. Later in which he publicly apologized for. The SAT was designed to have impact on everyone equally, but studies have suggested the opposite. Initially the test aimed to give students from small towns in the northeast of the
Tests have been taken and the results are shown to be biased towards students from wealthy areas, most likely because they can afford more educational resources then students from poor areas. “The private test preparation market for the SAT and the ACT is a $2 billion-a-year industry in the U.S. “(Westervelt ,Eric ). Families living in suburban neighborhoods typically have a higher income than those living in urban neighborhoods, which enables them to have more resources. This is an unfair advantage because not every student is being set up for success.
What exactly is standardized testing you may ask, it is a test which measures the knowledge among different students. There are many different standardized test in many different forms. High school standardized test include the SAT, ACT, and the awful dreaded FCAT. There are also standardized test in many different fields such as Medical (MCATs) or the standardized test needed to enter law school (LSATs). Most of these test are needed to get excepted into a certain school you want to go to or to get a scholarship.
Standardized tests have been a scourge of student life in America for more than fifty years. Throughout the United States, high school students prepare for months for the day in which they have to take out their No. 2 pencils, to endure four everlasting hours of bubbling-in answers. The ACT, American College Testing, and its counterpart, the SAT, Scholastic Assessment Test, are known as the high school exit exams, in which they have become one of the largest determining factors in the college-admissions process. Both standardized tests judge a student 's performance, in which it measures how well students learned skills to meet state standards. Although standardized tests are meant to measure what one learns in high school in order to determine
Subotnik also argued that “an overall track record of semester grades gives a better indication of a student’s competence (Gilmore 394).” Even though it had already been proven that the SAT has asked certain questions that minority students have little chance of answering correctly, Subotnik had always attempted to “deflect the fact that the SAT has always been racially and culturally biased (Gilmore 396).” Building onto what Subotnik stated, Shaw also believed that “the socioeconomic status and ethnic background of a student does not interfere with their academic performance (Shaw 1).” In contrast, Professor Guinier believed that standardized testing was not a fair indicator of a student’s overall success in higher
Designed to measure the math, reading and writing skills necessary to predict college success, The SAT Reasoning Test is the most popular and widely accepted exam used for college entrance available today. A team of U.S. colleges developed its earliest form, known as the College Entrance Exam, in 1901. This essay-only test was designed for students applying to colleges to take one entrance exam instead of separate exams for each university. In 1926, the College Entrance Exam became the SAT (Student Aptitude Test). The test was formatted to multiple-choice in order to objectively assess a student’s college readiness while giving all students an equal opportunity for success. Since then, the title of the test was changed again to no longer stand for Student Aptitude Test due to the multifaceted purpose of the test. Published by the Educational Testing Service, the current title of the test, “SAT”, is just an acronym that no longer stands for anything. Still, the SAT has been constantly developing to best assess student scholarly performance (“History of the Tests”, 2014).
Why is standardized testing part of the college admission process? Some of us might still remember taking the SAT or ACT when we were applying for college; however few of us question why we have to take such a test. Millions of dollars are spent on prep materials all so we can achieve a decent score and hope colleges will be impressed. The College Board claims a high SAT or ACT score correlates to college success which is defined as a good GPA throughout college. However if you stop and ask yourself what the SAT or ACT has to do with college success, most of us will arrive at the conclusion that these tests have almost have nothing to do with college success. Some of the questions are simply on these tests are simply ridiculous and will never
In today’s society, the process of college admissions dominates the life of high schoolers and has become extremely competitive. Central to most college applications are standardized test scores. Whether they be ACT or SAT, standardized testing is required by most universities to use as a baseline evaluator for applicants. These scores are help admissions offices fairly compare students from different schools and areas of the country and allow applicant to distinguish themselves from others. Yet, standardized tests also inhibit creativity and imagination by limiting tests to memorable facts and inconsequential information. Additionally, students from wealthy backgrounds have a significant advantage when taking standardized tests, which often
Shaughnessy, M. F., & Wakefield, J. F. (2003). Creativity: Assessment. In N. Piotrowski & T. Irons-Georges (Eds.), Magill's encyclopedia of social science:Psychology (pp. 459-463). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
“When it comes to bias in the SAT, the higher the income, the higher the score, an unacceptable trend in a test that boasts equality for all high school students.” (Chan) These students with “rich” parents can afford to hire tutors to make sure that they make the best score they possibly can. Students that can’t afford this, should have help as well. It’s not fair for someone to get more help than someone just because there parents have higher incomes than they do. Students can also purchase books to help them prepare for the tests, but not all students can afford these books. High schools should offer every student a book for free if they want every student to make the best they possibly can.
I entirely enjoyed reading your work here. I especially found the sewction in which you discussed how much priveledge plays a role in standardized test score results. Interestingly enough, there is research to back the idea that there is, indeed, a positive correlation between family income, race, and SAT score results. What is more, the man who developed the SAT in the early 20th century, Carl Brigham, was a self-proclaimed eugenecist. Brigham developed the test in such a way as to solidify his claim that some races were inferior to others. Unfortunately, today, SAT test results still show that certain races consistantly perform better than others. Therefore, my question to you would be, "how much do you think the SAT has remained
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was created to test college-bound students on their mathematical and verbal aptitudes and to thus predict their ability to succeed academically in college. In the United States, the SAT is the oldest and most widely used college entrance test. It was first administered in June 1926 to only 8,040 high school students and is now taken by over 2 million students. Over the years, the SAT has become one of the most important tests of a teenager's life for admission to college. The test is administered seven times a year at thousands of testing centers throughout the United States. Most colleges consider the SAT to be a reliable predictor of academic success in college and is therefore used as a critical tool when selecting applicants. However, the question that has to be confronted is whether the test is fair to all students.
One of the biggest topics in the educational world is standardized tests. All fifty states have their own standards following the common core curriculum. There are many positives and negatives that go with the standardized tests. A standardized test is any type of “examination that's administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). These standardized tests are either aptitude tests or achievement tests. Schools use achievement tests to compare students.
How does testing bias of standardized testing impact academic achievement? Standardized educational testing becomes biased when its design or the interpretation and evaluation of the results lead to various systematic disadvantages for the representatives of certain groups in comparison to the prevalent majority. This issue may occur in relation to people of color, lower-class members, ESL students, or the immigrants who are unfamiliar with particular cultural phenomena. For instance, the statistical correlation between SAT scores and income demonstrates that “students with higher family incomes tend to perform significantly better” (Biamonte, 2013. p. 2). The notion that wealthier students are able to improve their scores through test coaching and other similar services only reinforces the existing socioeconomic inequality in the academic sphere, for these services may be unaffordable for lower-class representatives. Thus, the issue of testing bias is closely connected to the concepts of fairness and equality, which, however, are merely the top of the metaphorical iceberg in this matter.