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Why is it that, especially on this forum, people seem so opposed to standardized tests, especially the SAT? Standardized tests are the only thing that judges everybody based on a common yardstick. Even within the same school, different teachers grade very differently. When I point that out, I’m just told that “life isn’t fairâ€. So, why aren’t kids who underperform on standardized tests told that “life isn’t fairâ€, just like students who get stuck with hard teachers are told? Or, if standardized tests are truly unfair, and if something needs to be done about it, why isn’t there also an attempt to make grading more uniform between teachers?
I excelled on most standardized tests.
However, there is an assumption built into standardized testing that I seldom hear anyone question. That assumption is that the test has "validity". In other words, that is an actual measurement of what has been learned or what skills have been acquired. That should not be assumed.
There are statistical ways to determine whether tests are valid or not. One way is to compare grades with the test score of each student. If the test is valid, it should correlate with a student's grades. A high score on the test should compare with a high grade point average in school. If it does not than one has to ask why. Is it because the test is not a good measurement of what is being taught? Is it because some good students goof off in class? Is it because good students don't do their homework?
I would complain less about standardized tests if I was convinced they were always measuring what they claim too.
However, there is an assumption built into standardized testing that I seldom hear anyone question. That assumption is that the test has "validity". In other words, that is an actual measurement of what has been learned or what skills have been acquired. That should not be assumed.
But why are teacher-written tests not held to the same standard? Everybody in this thread is attacking standardized tests, while defending teacher-written tests.
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There are statistical ways to determine whether tests are valid or not. One way is to compare grades with the test score of each student. If the test is valid, it should correlate with a student's grades. A high score on the test should compare with a high grade point average in school. If it does not than one has to ask why. Is it because the test is not a good measurement of what is being taught? Is it because some good students goof off in class? Is it because good students don't do their homework?
Or it can be because that student was stuck with a teacher who either gave overly hard tests compared to the other teachers, or who did not grade accurately, or who graded that student's exams differently than other students.
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I would complain less about standardized tests if I was convinced they were always measuring what they claim too.
I would complain less about teacher-written tests if I was convinced they were always measuring what they claim to.
Not even one poster has answered my original question: why is it that students who underperform on teacher-written tests just told that life isn't fair, but nobody ever says that to students who underperform on standardized tests?
But why are teacher-written tests not held to the same standard? Everybody in this thread is attacking standardized tests, while defending teacher-written tests.
Or it can be because that student was stuck with a teacher who either gave overly hard tests compared to the other teachers, or who did not grade accurately, or who graded that student's exams differently than other students.
I would complain less about teacher-written tests if I was convinced they were always measuring what they claim to.
Not even one poster has answered my original question: why is it that students who underperform on teacher-written tests just told that life isn't fair, but nobody ever says that to students who underperform on standardized tests?
I think people HAVE responded. No classes in high school are based on a single, teacher-written test. They are based on a variety of factors. Also, if you have two classes with kids who are otherwise comparable in terms of prior grades/performance and one teacher gives mostly As while the other gives mostly Cs, it’s likely that the parents of the C kids are going to complain a lot and the department head/administration will get involved.
With standardized tests, the parents have absolutely no recourse and it usually affects major aspects of your life, such as college admission, high school graduation or promotion to the next grade.
I think people HAVE responded. No classes in high school are based on a single, teacher-written test. They are based on a variety of factors.
Again, my experience was different.
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Also, if you have two classes with kids who are otherwise comparable in terms of prior grades/performance and one teacher gives mostly As while the other gives mostly Cs, it’s likely that the parents of the C kids are going to complain a lot and the department head/administration will get involved.
That wasn't the case when I was in school. Students like myself were just told that life isn't fair, and that I need to work harder to get an A. The fact that literally nobody would get an A in at least one class didn't seem to matter. And, even if parents did complain, the response would just be that the teacher has tenure, and he/she is free to grade however he/she chooses. My high school even allowed teachers to override a final grade if the teacher chose to do so, for any reason or for no reason. I mentioned how, for one quarter, in AP Chem, I got an A for every exam and assignment, but the teacher gave me a C+. I questioned why I got a C+, and his response was "because I don't like you". I don't know if the rules have changed since then, but, back then, he was allowed to do that, and I had no recourse. For what it's worth, I got a 5 on the AP exam and a 95 on the Regents.
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With standardized tests, the parents have absolutely no recourse and it usually affects major aspects of your life, such as college admission, high school graduation or promotion to the next grade.
With teacher-written exams, the parents also have absolutely no recourse and it usually affects major aspects of your life, such as college admissions and scholarships.
Last edited by mitsguy2001; 03-10-2021 at 08:18 AM..
In some cases, the teachers are just incompetent and won't admit it. In other cases, they want to favor the students that they like and penalize the students that they don't like.
The bolded seems a bit paranoid, doesn't it? Are you aware of concrete examples, where this has occurred? It would take a lot of effort to skew exam questions to the strengths of favored students. I'm not even sure that's doable. However, an off-the-cuff snide remark, like, "You got a C because I don't like you" is just a teacher being a jerk, not an indication of a diabolical plan to design tests to benefit favored students.
Anyway, I'm sorry all that happened to you, OP. Unfortunately, there are teachers who are unprofessional.
The bolded seems a bit paranoid, doesn't it? Are you aware of concrete examples, where this has occurred? It would take a lot of effort to skew exam questions to the strengths of favored students. I'm not even sure that's doable. However, an off-the-cuff snide remark, like, "You got a C because I don't like you" is just a teacher being a jerk, not an indication of a diabolical plan to design tests to benefit favored students.
Anyway, I'm sorry all that happened to you, OP. Unfortunately, there are teachers who are unprofessional.
Since I got an A on every exam and assignment, and he gave me a C+, what other explanation was there for my grade, other than the fact that he downgraded me for not liking me?
I didn't mean that teachers intentionally wrote questions to favor certain students. What they would do is grade more leniently students that they liked, and more harshly students that they did not like. Besides the example I gave above, I had a teacher who would mark wrong questions that I obviously got right, and refuse to correct the grade. Anything subjective, such as an essay, they will grade more harshly students they don't like, and, since it's a judgment call, there isn't much that you can do about it. Also, they would be more harsh with students they didn't like when it came to marking things wrong that they claimed were illegible or mis-spelled. Or, for a student they liked, they'd claim that 89 was close enough to an A, but give a B to a student that they didn't like. Standardized tests, at least, everybody plays under the same rule.
Even when teachers do not have biases against certain students, different teachers still have different policies. If Teacher A gives zero credit for mis-spelled answers, Teacher B gives half credit, and teacher C gives full credit, the students with Teacher C will get the highest grades, and students with Teacher A get the lowest grades, even though there is no actual difference in the students' performance.
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