STANDARDIZED TESTS BELIEVE GAME

Standardized Tests Believe Game

Standardized tests are used in many countries to determine a student’s academic ability.
In the U.S., many colleges and universities use them as part of their admission process. They are
generally preferred to other tests because of their perceived objectivity and fairness (Phelps,
2017). Despite their widespread use in America’s education system, there remain strong concerns
about their effect on America’s education. My position is that standardized tests are not
improving education in America.
Three premises opposing my position
Not everyone agrees that standardized tests are having a detrimental effect on America’s
education. Multiple arguments have been presented that support the continued use of
standardized tests. One of them is that standardized tests are an objective and reliable measure of
achievement of students. In the absence of these tests, universities and policy makers would have
to rely on tests prepared and graded by individual teachers and schools. Given that teachers and
schools have a strong motive for producing favorable results, such non-standardized tests are
unreliable.
Another argument in favor of standardized tests is that, contrary to the belief that it leads
to poor educational achievement, it actually achieves the opposite. The example of China
supports this argument. For many centuries China has used standardized tests. Rather than seeing
its levels of educational achievement reduce, they have actually increased. In 2009 China topped
the world in science, mathematics, and reading. It displaced Finland which had for long held the
position. The achievement of China shows that standardized tests improve educational
achievement of a country.

STANDARDIZED TESTS BELIEVE GAME
Lastly, it has been argued that standardized tests encourage teaching to the test. This is
not a negative practice because it makes teachers and students to focus on skills and content that
is essential for a student of a given grade. Thus, the practice eliminates focus on activities that
waste time or do not produce any meaningful learning gains.
Answers to the three propositions using the believing game
Believing game requires one to believe in arguments that do not support their position
(Elbow, 2017). Believing in such arguments makes notice many interesting and useful
information that they would have otherwise ignored (Elbow, 2006). On the debate of
standardized tests, in the first assertion that standardized tests are an objective and reliable
measure of a student’s achievement, I find the idea to be helpful in many respects. Certainly a
test is meaningless if the scores cannot be relied upon because of the biasness of people
preparing and grading the test. Secondly, we can only know a student’s ability if their scores are
compared with scores of other students on a similar test. Having every student or small groups of
students do different tests makes such comparison almost impossible.
If I believed this assertion, I would notice that the key tenet of an effective test is
reliability. Can the scores of a given student be relied upon as a fairly accurate representation of
their academic ability? If a test doe not guarantee such reliability then it is not an effective test.
The assertion that standardized tests are objective and reliable stand true under condition
that all students that sit for the tests have equal access to preparation resources such as teachers,
books, suitable preparation environment, and time. Rich students can hire private tutors to
prepare them for the tests. They also have better access to the required reading materials than

STANDARDIZED TESTS BELIEVE GAME
poor students. Thus, when students from different backgrounds have to take the tests, the scores
may not be an objective representation of their academic ability.
On the second assertion that China’s long tradition and educational success using
standardized tests proves that the tests have a positive effect on educational achievement, I find it
interesting that it is China and Finland that top worldwide tests in maths, science, and reading.
While China uses standardized tests, Finland does not. The fact that both are performing well
perhaps shows that the format of a test does not have a major effect on a country’s educational
achievement.
If I believed this assertion, I would notice that contrary to popular belief that standardized
tests lower education standards, the success of China shows that at worst they have no effect on
educational achievement and at best improve the achievement.
The validation of standardized tests using China as an example only makes sense if other
factors are also considered. For instance, it would be useful if the performance of other countries
using standardized tests could also be analyzed because without analysis of performance of other
countries it will be difficult to know whether China is an outlier or a representative of countries
that use standardised tests.
Lastly, on the point of teaching to the test focusing students time and energy on only
essential content, I find the idea of focused teaching/learning very useful. There is a limit to what
students can learn in a given academic year. Within the limited time available to them, it is
important that teachers focus on imparting to students the most relevant and essential knowledge
and skills. This can only happen when they are guided by questions from standardized tests.

STANDARDIZED TESTS BELIEVE GAME
If I believed this view I would notice that standardized tests are good at organizing both
teachers and students and forcing them to concentrate all their efforts and time on a few but most
relevant knowledge and skills.
This view of standardized tests helping to focus teachers and students efforts on the most
relevant materials is true on condition that the questions asked in the tests remain fairly
consistent over the years. If the questions asked keep on changing it is very hard to know which
area of study to focus on.
The believe game allows one to see the merits of a position that they do not share. On the
issue of the effect of standardized tests on American education, my position is that such tests
have largely negatively effect on education system. However, through playing the believe game,
I have come to realize that the opposing position has many valid points that I had not given
consideration when arriving at my position.

STANDARDIZED TESTS BELIEVE GAME

References

Elbow, P. (2006). The believing game and how to make conflicting opinions more
fruitful. Nurturing the peacemakers in our students: A guide to teaching peace, empathy,
and understanding, 16-25.
Phelps, R. (2017). Kill the messenger: The war on standardized testing. Routledge.