As unwelcome and controversial as they may be, school standardized tests are a regular and debated part of school life. High-stakes tests often link important consequences to test results -- like promotion, graduation, or now in some states, scholarship money.
Parents, educators and policymakers all use tests to help them make decisions. Test results can help us choose a good school, decide whether or not to move a child to the next grade and determine if a school is helping students learn all they can. For that reason, testing and its resulots remain major education issues and seems to spark more questions and controversy than any other topic in education.
When it comes to testing, though, parents want to know two things: Does testing really tell us useful things about our kids? And are some tests more useful than others?
Most people will immediately recognize that the answers to these questions are complex, and often the best answer is, "It depends."
Usefulness of School Standardized Tests in K-12 Grades
Any test that gives dependable information about important outcomes can be useful. For example, a weekly spelling test covering plurals of words that end in -y can yield valuable information to teachers and parents about whether a child has learned that concept in language arts. No one really disagrees with tests like these.
Where people do disagree, however, is about the usefulness of statewide tests. The content of these tests is decided by groups with a keen interest in improving education.
Usually committees of teachers, curriculum experts, parents and (occasionally) representatives from business and industry wrestle with difficult questions such as, "What are the most important things that a fourth-grader should know or be able to do in mathematics, reading and science?"
The answers to these questions are translated into a framework for the statewide test, which is really just a list of those outcomes judged to be most important.
If the committee truly represents the community, and if the outcomes they decide upon reflect high expectations, test results can give keen insights into whether students have accomplished important goals, how students compare with each other, and how well a school performs overall.
Challenge to Determine Outcomes for Elementary to High School Academics
There are two potential problems, however. First, sometimes community members disagree about what the content of tests should be. This is one reason that many states stick to testing the basics.
The outcomes tested in any large testing program are public information; parents interested in learning more about the tests their children take can get that information just by asking for a copy of the outcomes (or "standards"). These should be readily available (and free) at a child's school, school district offices or from the state department of education.
A second problem arises when schools fail to teach truly important concepts and skills. A child can't learn what he hasn't been taught well. In fact, a good way to gauge whether your child's school is focused on important outcomes (and will prepare your kids to do well on standardized tests is to ask his or her teacher for a copy of the school's standards.
If the teacher can't tell you what they are, or can't easily locate a copy, you may have a problem.
What School Standardized Tests Tell Us
Are some tests more useful than others?
Again, the answer is, "It depends."
Three things determine the usefulness of a test: its quality (discussed above); its purpose; and how the results are used.
First, a test that is a more accurate, dependable and tied to important standards would be more useful.
Second, tests are like tools, each with a different purpose. A carpenter wouldn't pound in a nail with a screwdriver. Similarly, tests like the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) are designed to show what a student has mastered, and in turn, how well his school has taught him the state's core curriculum. Other tests like the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) are designed primarily to show how a student compares to other students at the same age or grade level.
Tests like the MEAP are referred to as criterion-referenced because of their focus on measuring students against specific content benchmarks. Most classroom tests would also be considered criterion-referenced.
On the other hand, the ITBS is an example of a norm-referenced test which reflects its purpose of comparing one student's performance to similar students (other third-graders, for example). So far, no single test can do all these things well.
Education and Issues: Understanding How to Use Results
Both kinds of information--criterion and normative--are valuable, however. For example, one mother might brag to other parents that her child has just been potty-trained (criterion-referenced information).
Most parents would probably respond with "Congratulations!" They might have a different reaction if they learned that the child also just turned 16 (the normative comparison). The same situation applies in school contexts. It is nice to know that a student can add together fractions; it would also be important to consider that other students can multiply and divide them as well.
Finally, the usefulness of a test depends on what is done with the results. Imagine the following scene. A child begins to experience weight loss, frequent urination, insatiable thirst, and you detect a fruity smell in her breath. After assessing the patient the child's doctor proclaims, "You have diabetes." Then, nothing. The physician offers no advice on diet, prescribes no insulin. Nothing.
The problem here would be obvious. Medical tests should be used to develop a plan of treatment to correct a problem. Likewise, classroom tests -- and most large-scale tests -- should do more than just label a child (e.g., learning disabled, gifted, B+, proficient, attention deficit, and so on). For a test to have any value, the results must be used to plan a way to help students achieve the most that they can.
Is There a Role in Testing for Parent Involvement in Education?
It would certainly be reasonable to ask the doctor, "What advice do you have for managing my diabetes?" Similarly, it is reasonable to ask your child's teacher, "What plans do you have for working on our child's strengths and weakness, and what can we do to help?"
The answers should not only provide a parent with information about how useful a test has been, but should also result in a stronger parent/teacher relationship and a better approach to teaching your child.
Gregory J. Cizek is Associate Professor of Educational Measurement and Evaluation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.