Testing and Assessment

Brown chapter 23 and 24 provided great examples of what is important while designing a test.  In my ENG 346 course, we went over validity and reliability in depth.  These, along with practicality are all factors test makers must consider. It is of paramount importance for tests to be as valid as possible, accurately measure what it's intended to, while being reliable.  These facets should be set in stone. When we come to types of test, this is where one can see some variation.  I felt that the most important note to draw from these readings is that there are many different tests for many different purposes. It is the teachers job to discern what types of tests to give and when.  As the book states, norm referenced tests may be more appropriate due to efficiency and costs and better measures of validity/reliability, while criterion referenced tests may be more focused on washback and authenticity.

Another part of the reading I found interesting was the ethical issues of testing and the critical lens.  I couldn't help but think of the biased tests we covered in our ENG 346 class.  The ISAT for example didn't give appeal to the needs of deaf or ESL children.  Second language learners would just take the test, knowing that they were going to do terrible.  As the book mentions, many tests have their certain biases.  In my opinion, the biggest qualm with testing Brown mentioned was when he stated, "Tests promote the notion that answers to real-world problems have unambiguous right and wrong answers with no shade of gray." (463)  The real world does not operate on these same principles.  I feel the book did a nice follow up with explaining how the best way to go about testing is through multiple measures of testing or formative evaluations.  These processes mimic the real world in a sense that nothing is completely right and wrong.