Various testing models are designed for the evaluation of student knowledge and cognitive skills. However, all of them have specific limitations that should be considered upon evaluation of results. Standardized testing is designed to determine the actual performance of students by providing them with an identical set of questions and a specific manner of answering them, for instance, multiple choices, true or false, or descriptions. This model of evaluation allows assessing the knowledge and understanding of students accurately.
The benefits of standardized tests are reflected in their adaptability to different conditions. They can be used on different age groups, for instance, kindergarteners or college students (“Standardized test,” 2015). Additionally, they can be applied for determining achievements or aptitude or be used before college admission and for psychological evaluation. They allow determining the level of knowledge of a large group of individuals (“Standardized test,” 2015).
However, limitations exist, which are connected to the specifics of test design that allows evaluating only a particular set of skills or detailed knowledge. Therefore, they cannot provide a comprehensive assessment of all the capabilities that a student has. Additionally, in cases where answers are given as short descriptions, it is impossible to use computer-based evaluating, which requires human input and may be subjected to error.
An appropriate situation for using standardized assessments is the evaluation of academic progress over time. However, it should be noted that, in some cases, one should not rely on these tests because they cannot help measure the level of knowledge in regards to all the material that was learned by an individual. Thus, these assessments can provide information regarding specific expertise on a topic that a student obtained. It is valid to use student assessments for evaluating teacher performance and efficiency because when computer evaluation is utilized, possible bias can be mitigated, and a large number of individuals can participate in this testing.
Therefore, the results will be more accurate because the population tested is statistically sufficient. Overall, standardized tests provide an accurate assessment of both students’ knowledge and educators’ strategies.
Reference
Standardized test. (2015). Web.