Name: 【TED-Ed】Should we get rid of standardized testing? - Arlo Kempf
Uploaded: 2017-09-19T15:46:10.000Z
Duration: 5 min 41 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

("The hardest part of learning something new is not embracing new ideas, but letting go of old ones." - Todd Rose, "The End of Average")

The first standardized tests that we know of were administered in China over 2,000 years ago during the Han dynasty.

Chinese officals used them to determine aptitude for various government posts.

The subject matter included philosophy, farming, and even military tactics.

Standardized tests continued to be used around the world for the next two millennia,

and today, they're used for everything from evaluating stair climbs for firefighters in France

to language examinations for diplomats in Canada to students in schools.

Some standardized tests measure scores only in relation to the results of other test-takers.

Others measure performances on how well test-takers meet predetermined criteria.

So, the stair climb for the firefighter could be measured by comparing the time of the climb to that of all other firefighters.

This might be expressed in what many call a "bell curve".

Or it could be evaluated with reference to set criteria, such as carrying a certain amount of weight a certain distance up a certain number of stairs.

Similarly, the diplomat might be measured against other test-taking diplomats or against a set of fixed criteria, which demonstrate different levels of language proficiency.

And all of these results can be expressed using something called a "percentile".

If a diplomat is in the 70th percentile, 70% of test-takers scored below her.

If she scored in the 30th percentile, 70% of test-takers scored above her.

Although standardized tests are sometimes controversial, they're simply a tool.

As a thought experiment, think of a standardized test as a ruler.

A ruler's usefulness depends on two things.

Our ruler can't measure the temperature outside or how loud someone is singing.

Second, the ruler's usefulness depends on its design.

Say you need to measure the circumference of an orange.

Our ruler measures length, which is the right quantity, but it hasn't been designed with the flexibility required for the task at hand.

So, if standardized tests are given the wrong job or aren't designed properly, they may end up measuring the wrong things.

In the case of schools, students with test anxiety may have trouble performing their best on a standardized test,

not because they don't know the answers, but because they're feeling too nervous to share what they've learned.

Students with reading challenges may struggle with the wording of a math problem,

so their test results may better reflect their literacy rather than numeracy skills.

And students who are confused by examples on tests that contain unfamiliar cultural references may do poorly,

telling us more about the test-taker's cultural familiarity than their academic learning.

In these cases, the tests may need to be designed differently.

Standardized tests can also have a hard time measuring abstract characteristics or skills, such as creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.

If we design a test poorly or ask it to do the wrong job or a job it's not very good at, the results may not be reliable or valid.

Reliability and validity are two critical ideas for understanding standardized tests.

To understand the difference between them, we can use the metaphor of two broken thermometers.

An unreliable thermometer gives you a different reading each time you take your temperature,

and the reliable but invalid thermometer is consistently ten degrees too hot.

Validity also depends on accurate interpretations of results.

If people say the results of a test mean something they don't, that test may have validity problem.

Just as we wouldn't expect a ruler to tell us how much an elephant weighs, or what it had for breakfast,

we can't expect standardized tests alone to reliably tell us how smart someone is,

how diplomats will handle a tough situation,

or how brave a firefighter might turn out to be.

So, standardized tests may help us learn a little about a lot of people in a short time,

but they usually can't tell us a lot about a single person.

Many social scientists worry about test scores resulting in sweeping and often negative changes for test-takers, sometimes with long-term life consequences.

It's up to us to use the right tests for the right jobs and to interpret results appropriately.

If you'd like to learn more about this topic, we highly recommend a best-selling book called "The End of Average" by Harvard Professor Todd Rose.

In it, Rose investigates the rampant misuse of standardized test with clarity and urgency.

He also proposes a solution to the problem.

You can download an audio version of this book for free on audible.com/teded.

And every free trial encourages Audible to continue supporting Ted-Ed's nonprofit mission.

We're very passionate about this issue, and we're very grateful to any Ted-Ed community members who take the time to read or listen to this important book.

Thanks for watching, and thanks for your support.