Research versus rhetoric : an examination of standardized testing : [an honors thesis (HONRS 499)]

Abstract

A push for standards is occurring across the nation and is creating great changes in United States schools. For example, standardized tests are used more than they ever were before to assess students' eligibility for grade promotion, graduation from high school, acceptance into institutions of higher learning, and many other important decisions. With such emphasis being placed on standardized test scores alone for the basis of many important decisions, some educators and educational theorists want to know if the standardized tests are reliable, valid, and unbiased. Many politicians and test-makers maintain that the tests do achieve their main goal of providing an accurate measure of students' academic performance. However, many parents, educators, and educational theorists believe that current standardized tests are too structurally flawed to accurately reflect students' academic abilities. Alfie Kohn, Peter Sacks, and James Popham are three educational theorists who oppose the current uses of standardized test scores and highlight cultural bias in test items and the inappropriateness of standardized test objectives, among other problems. In my honors thesis, I will summarize the viewpoints of Kohn, Sacks, and Popham and emphasize the importance of involving parents and educators in the standardized testing debate.