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K-12 Testing Fact Sheet.

This paper contends that much of the time and money devoted to standardized testing in the United States is misspent. Too many tests are poorly constructed, unreliable, and unevenly administered. Multiple-choice tests cannot measure thinking skills or real problem-solving ability. In addition, many...

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Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Full Text (via ERIC)
Corporate Authors: National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest), Cambridge, MA, National Center for Fair & Open Testing (U.S.)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 1992.
Subjects:
Accountability.
Agency Role.
Alternative Assessment.
Educational Assessment.
Educational Discrimination.
Educational Improvement.
Elementary Secondary Education.
Multiple Choice Tests.
Problem Solving.
Screening Tests.
Standardized Tests.
Student Evaluation.
Test Bias.
Test Construction.
Test Use.
Testing Problems.
Thinking Skills.
Description
Summary:This paper contends that much of the time and money devoted to standardized testing in the United States is misspent. Too many tests are poorly constructed, unreliable, and unevenly administered. Multiple-choice tests cannot measure thinking skills or real problem-solving ability. In addition, many examinations are biased racially, culturally, linguistically, and by social class and gender. Use of these flawed tests leads to inaccurate and inappropriate decisions for individual children and harms the entire educational system because standardized tests provide little useful information for educational improvement. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) urges changes in the use of tests to eliminate mass testing of young children for readiness, placement, and promotion. No decisions about a child should be made primarily on the basis of test scores and tests must be no more than one small part of an assessment. Valid and comprehensive unbiased alternatives must be developed. These themes are expanded on in the following sections: (1) "What's Wrong with Standardized Tests?"; (2) "Tests Used in K-12"; (3) "Better Options for Assessing Education"; (4) "Alternatives in the States"; (5) "Excerpts from the Statement of the Campaign for Genuine Accountability"; and (6) "FairTest Goals and Principles." (SLD)
Item Description:Availability: FairTest, 342 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Physical Description:8 pages.

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