Book/Testing Standardization

Standardized testing means that testing is demonstrably objective, fair, reproducible and valid. At the same time, these attributes do not come from the good will of an individual teacher, but are achieved through the systematic use of demonstrable procedures and methods.

Using explicit and known standards in advance allows teachers to provide students with objective feedback on learning outcomes and thus bolster their motivation. Students perceive standardized assessment to be fairer than other assessments that do not address the comparability of questions and conditions.

Standardization also ensures that the threshold for passing the test will be set according to objective (defensible) criteria, that equal conditions will be ensured for those tested, and that the results will be comparable to each other, regardless of the date and specific examiners.

In the field of assessment and psychometrics, the term “standardization” is used in several senses, which can be somewhat confusing:

Standardization as setting an objective threshold (cut score) for passing the exam. This uses certification methods such as Angoff, Ebel, the bookmark method and others. The point is to set the threshold for passing the exam according to objective and demonstrable procedures, so that the threshold that separates the successful from the unsuccessful cannot later be brought into question.

Standardization as a guarantee of equality of conditions during the test. Correct selection of candidates and correct assessment of learning outcomes require that the process be objective and equal for all involved. We must therefore ensure that all students receive an equivalent test with the same time limit and all other conditions, and unfairly favoring some examinees is avoided.

Standardization as ensuring compliance with standards. In order for the evaluation procedures of individual schools and institutions to be comparable with each other, or for individual institutions to issue valid testing certifications, they themselves must adhere to the standards that are key to testing. One such example would be the Standards for Pedagogical and Psychological Testing.

Since the assurance of equality and reproducibility of conditions, procedures and evaluations is not a given, various methodological aids and tools are used for this. For example, to ensure the reproducibility of tests carried out by multiple teachers, at multiple schools, or over a longer period of time, the test team creates methodological material for evaluators, which can be referred to as, for example, instructions for evaluators, test manual, examination committee instructions, methodological instructions for evaluators, instructions for exam organization, etc., , The teacher thus receives precise instructions for the preparation, execution and evaluation of the test in order to ensure the reproducibility of the results.

Benefits of Standardization

One of the main advantages of standardized testing is that the results are sufficiently valid and reliable and can be objectively documented and reproduced. This distinguishes them from regular in-school evaluations, which are dependent on a particular teacher. Thanks to standardized testing, it is possible not only to compare the results of examinees across individual schools, but also to compare their performance in different years.

Standardized testing not only provides information regarding an individual’s knowledge, but when aggregating the results of entire tested groups, it can provide other useful information, for example, the possibility of comparing the results of different classes, schools or other groups on a timeline, with relative accuracy.

Risks of Standardization

Through gradually increasing adoration, standardized testing has become an icon in some countries and also used for some assessments for which this format is clearly not suitable. According to some authors, “standardized tests cannot measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, engagement, goodwill, ethical reflection, and a whole host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure are specific skills and knowledge, that is, the least interesting and least significant aspects of education". Critics of standardized testing point to the uniformity of such an educational model and the production of “assembly line-like” graduates . However, this uniformity is not the result of standardized testing, but of its uncritical use. Another objection is that the overuse and abuse of standardized tests harms instruction by narrowing the curriculum. The use of standardized testing regardless of the objectives of learning leads to the fact that what is not tested is not learned. The method of testing then becomes a model of how to teach the subject. Proponents of standardized testing respond that this is not a criticism of standardized testing, but its inappropriate use.