Horace Mann is recognized as the father of standardized testing in the U.S., shifting from oral examinations to structured assessments designed for validity and reliability. The development of standardized tests involves a lengthy process of creating and validating test items, but there are growing concerns about biases and inaccuracies in these assessments. Standardized testing can lead to test-driven learning environments that negatively impact student motivation and learning, especially in lower-socioeconomic areas.

1. Standards-based and
Standardized Assessment

2. The man considered to be the Father of Standardized
Testing in the U.S. is Horace Mann, who was
secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of
Education from 1837-48. Before 1845,
oral examinations prevailed as the primary way to
measure educational attainment in American
schools.

3. Standardised tests are developed in a very structured
way to ensure that they have validity (they test what
they claim to test or the results predict future
behaviour) and reliability (the test gives the same or
similar results repeatedly over time). The rigorous
development process can take between two and four
years to complete and involves a number of stages
and experts.

4. How t make this kind of test or assessment
 Design a test framework (for curriculum tests, this
samples the knowledge and skills to be assessed)
 Write a large number of content questions
 Trial questions with pupils in schools
 Reject questions that perform badly in trialling
 Develop tests for a standardisation trial
 Conduct the standardisation trial with
a statistically significant and nationally representative sa
mple of pupils
 Develop the norm-referenced measures (such as age-
standardised scores and percentiles) to enable
comparison of pupil or school performance to
performance nationally.

5.  Once, standardized tests brought convenience,
efficiency kind of test
 Lately, Educators become aware of weaknesses in
standardized testing: They were not accurate
measures of achievement and success and they
were not based on carefully framed
comprehensive and validated standards of
achievement.

6. Consequences of standards-based
and standardized testing
Positive
High level of practicality and reliability
Provides insights into academic performance
Negative
They involve a number of test biases

7. Negative
• A small but significant number of test
takers are not assessed fairly nor they are
assessed accurately
• Lack of motivation
• Multiple intelligence are not considered
• In general performance is not directly
assessed.

8. Test Bias
■ Standardized tests involve many test bias
(language, culture, race, gender, learning
styles)
■ tests bias from; teachers, parents, students,
and legal authorities.

9. Test-driven learning and teaching
■ It is another consequence of standardized
testing. When students know that one single
measure of performance will determine their
lives they are less to take positive attitudes
towards learning.
■ Teacher are also affected from test-driven
policies. They are under pressure to make sure
their students excelled in the exam, ignoring
other objectives in the curriculum. A more
serious effect was to punish schools with
lower-socioeconomic neighbourhood.