Standardized Assessment Is The Only Instrument For...

Standardized testing has been used in the American higher education platforms to assess student achievement at individual,classroom,instructor,school,region, district,state and national levels.The results obtained from standardized tests have provided all parties with information regarding the direction of education and provide catalysts for improvement.Arguments concerning the merits of standardized assessments as a measure of college and university effectiveness have been around since time immemorial.Amidst these arguments,a number of policy makers and professionals in the field of education most importantly agree that standardized assessment should not be the only instrument for measuring student learning outcomes that institutions†¦show more content†¦29) Nichols et al. cites that the problem of using standardized assessment in higher education is deeper than the few benefits that come with it. Institutional effectiveness has continued to be measured by inputs mostly in terms of financial resources, and the academic qualifications of students before they are enrolled into the institutions of higher learning. Once the students qualify to join these institutions, they are exposed to a series of standardized tests which are used to measure their academic outcomes (30). One evident fact however is the fact that standardized tests cannot be used to quantify student outcomes. When it comes to measuring essential qualities such as creativity, intellectual integrity, personal self-delivery, tolerance, wisdom, refinement of taste and conduct, and psychological well-being, then standardized tests almost prove useless in the realms of higher education. Nichols et al. writes that standardized testing in higher learning is likely to create an atmosphere of hyper