Essay on The Disadvantages of Psychometric Testing

Largely, the entire test proved thought provoking as this was a subjective test. Meaning everyone's values are not the same, everyone is not driven by the same motives. This could be problematic in obtaining valid results. It has given this writer cause to carefully examine assessments that are being administered clients. Reliability and validity have a great importance in how counselor should utilize assessments and can assist in finding appropriate instruments in order to be more effective with clients.

To many students standardized testing has become another part of schooling that is dreaded. Standardized testing has been a part of school since the nineteen-thirties; in those days it was used as a way to measure students that had special needs. Since the time that standardized test have been in American schools there has been many programs that have placed an importance on the idea of standardized testing such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Evans 1). Over the years the importance of standardized testing has increased tremendously and so has the stakes, not only for teachers but also students. All states in the United States of America have state test in order to measure how much students learn, and help tell how well the

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

Standardized tests are unnecessary because they are excruciating to the minds of many innocent students. Each year, the tests get tougher and stricter until the students cannot process their own thoughts. The tests become torturous to the minds of those only starting in the world of tests. The students already battling in the war are continuing to fall deeper and deeper into the world of uncreativity and narrowness. As the walls narrow in on them, they are lost and unable to become innovative thinkers. Moreover, the implementation of standardized tests into the public school systems of the United States of America has controversially raised two different views –the proponents versus the opponents in the battle of the effectiveness of

In this paper I discuss the creation, distribution, and results of a psychological test. The test consisted of knowledge and self-report sections, which tested the construct of “The AZA and Zoos”. According to their website, The Association of Zoos and aquariums (AZA), is an independent, non-profit organization that grants an optional accreditation to zoos, aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries. Institutions that meet their strict standards for animal welfare and care after a series of inspections and interviews are granted a five-year accreditation. In addition to their standards for animal care, they are also invested in conservation of species, and education of the general public (AZA, 2016). The knowledge portion evaluated general knowledge of the AZA policies and procedures, while the self-report evaluated overall opinion on Zoos. An example item for the knowledge portion was item three “An AZA accreditation is not necessary to operate a zoo “. An example item for the self-report portion was item 32 “I think zoos are a positive enrichment activity for children “. The intended survey population for this survey was the general population.

Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.

The purposes of standardized tests are to instruct decision making, establish program eligibility, evaluate course goals, evaluate program goals, and examine external curriculum. When a teacher gives and assesses a standardized test, they gain information about their students that helps them realize what concepts they have learned according to the agenda for the subject at hand. If the assessment is performed in a sensible amount of time and given according to the directions, this purpose should be fulfilled; however, it is a common belief that standardized tests do not work well in establishing where a student stands in a specific curriculum. The test uses a general curriculum that is the basis for the tests

“No issue in the U.S. Education is more controversial than (standardized) testing. Some people view it as the linchpin of serious reform and improvement, others as a menace to quality teaching and learning” (Phelps). A tool that educators use to learn about students and their learning capabilities is the standardized test. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of a student’s performance. Popular tests include the SAT, IQ tests, Regents Exams, and the ACT. “Three kinds of standardized tests are used frequently in schools: achievement, diagnostic, and aptitude” (Woolfolk 550). Achievement tests can be used to help a teacher assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a

“Standardized testing has become the arbiter of social mobility, yet there is more regulation of the food we feed our pets that of the tests we give our kids ” (Robert Schaeffer quotes)

Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.

The educational system in the United States has gone through many changes over the last century. These changes are a part of a constant movement toward educational excellence for every child in this nation. One of the most recent acts placed on public school systems by the government is to create more accountability for schools in order to ensure that all children are receiving the proper education. Part of this mandate is that public schools will require students to take tests in order to gather information about their academic achievement. Although educators and administrators claim that the mandatory ability testing programs being initiated in America’s public schools will hold students and teachers accountable for academic

“Our educational goal [is] the production of caring, competent, loving, lovable people” . The students found in the schools across the United State are the future of America. They are the doctors, teachers, business people, lawyers and many other roles, that will be out in the workforce in the years to come. What they learn in school will impact them immensely; it is the responsibility of a teacher to give students the best education in order to ensure the common good of the future. It is essential for students to not only learn content matter, but also the skills to enable them to participate in a democracy. Due to standardized testing, the emphasis of education has become on score and rankings rather than learning. A standardized test does not look at the whole student, the scores provided are on a very narrow aspect of education. In the classroom, there are countless ways for teachers to assess the student as a whole person not as just a score. Standardized tests scores should not be the sole criteria for determining a student’s academic achievement.

Selecting tests can measure knowledge, skills and ability, as well as other characteristics, such as personality traits and they are useful to evaluate the right employee for a specific role, by identifying the candidate personality. For example, if a company or department needs to hire a new manager, a psychological/aptitude test may help to understand better if the candidate has the features required for that specific job position (strong leadership skills, such as high self-confidence, calmness, flexibility, etc).

A psychological assessment is the venture of a capable experts, generally a psychologist, to operate the techniques and tools or materials of psychology to ascertain either common or unique facts about another person, either to notify others how they function now, or estimate their attitude,behavior and functioning in the future. The issue of assessment is generally diagnosis or classification. These are the movement of placing a person in a certainly or loosely characterized category of people. This leads to swiftly grasp what they are similar in general, and to evaluate the existence of other thematic features based upon people similar or likely to them. Case history data, clinical interview, psychological tests and behavioral observations

Historically, crime and criminals have always caught the attention of law-abiding citizens. Whenever there is mention of serial killers or unsolved murders or abductions, psychological profiling, floats to the top of the list of concerns (Egger, 1999). Psychological profiling is an attempt to provide investigators with more information about an offender who has not yet been identified (Egger, 1999). Its purpose is to develop a behavioral composite that combines both sociological and psychological assessment of the would-be offender. The type of person who could have committed the crime can often be identified on the premise that accurate analysis and interpretation of the crime scene can point to a