W. James Popham, Former President Of The American Education

W. James Popham, former president of the American Education Research Association, defines standardized testing as, â€Å"Any tests that are administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard predetermined manner.† (Background). Standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT, have been included in the American education ever since the mid-1800s. These certain tests incorporate multiple choice questions which could be graded easily with haste by the usage of automated test scoring machines. The tests also include â€Å"open-ended† questions that require the expensive alternative of using human graders. The standardized tests do come in a variety of different formats; however, multiple-choice questions and true and false formats are favored in usage since†¦show more content†¦There are many causations for failure in the education system. For example, rising in poverty levels, teacher quality, tenure polices, and as well as THE USE OF STANDARDIZED TESTING (Background) . Adversaries claim that the use of standardized testing can encourage a shortened curriculum and emphasize teaching the test material instead of emphasizing the basic knowledge of subjects. Furthermore, these tests are known for being neither fair nor objective and that their use will promote in a narrowing of curriculum. The excessive testing will undermine America’s ability to produce visionaries and critical thinkers. Therefore, leading to the claim that shortened curriculum due to the teaching of materials of standardized tests is the causation of the weakness in the education system. High-test taking has initiated major controversy. For example, it will hold many relevant significances for students, teachers, and schools. The score of a student who took the uniform test will determine whether that student will advance to the next academic level or not. Meaning either going to the next grade level or a senior testing to get into college. Furthermore, the failure of the s tudent(s) will also lead to the blaming of the teacher or educator, resulting in discharging them from their job or closing of the school. Subsequently, educators prefer to replace these tests with collections of students work throughout the year, like portfolios. Another disagreement of theseShow MoreRelatedTaking a Look at Standardized Testing598 Words   |  2 Pagesof students and in turn, the aptness of teachers. W. James Popham (2005), former president of the American Educational Research Association, defines standardized test as any test thats administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard, predetermined manner. In the United States, standardized testing became more prominent in 2002 due to the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act. All public schools were held to a high standard of education by measuring their students’ scores in statewide standardizedRead MoreStandardized Test and Informal Reading Assessments Essay2179 Words   |  9 Pagespoints, and by listing a few of these you can make your own decision as to whether standardized testing is good or bad, and what or how you can use the testing information in your classroom. â€Å"Standardized tests are defined by W. James Popham, former president of the American Educational Research Association, as ‘any test that’s administered, scored, and interpreted in a standard , predetermined manner.† (ProCon.org, 2011, p. 6) The debate over these tests has become a very hot topic especially since