Standardized Testing

Since the early 20th century, the United States has been the foremost developer and consumer of testing technology in the world. Tests have been used widely by the U.S. military, government and civilian employers, and educational institutions to improve selection, placement, and promotion decisions. However, the pervasiveness of testing in American life, starting as early as age six, has called into question the purported benefits of testing, led to intense scrutiny of organizational decisions, and raised concerns about the general impact of testing on society. Although some of these criticisms are certainly justified, standardized tests, the most common targets of public rebuke, are among the best assessment devices available and, in our view, do not deserve the bad rap they have been given in the popular press.

The term standardized tests originally referred to tests using uniform administration procedures. Over time, the term has evolved to describe tests that measure constructs related to academic achievement and aptitude, that are administered to a very large number of examinees on a regular basis (usually in a group format), and that have a variety of normative information available for interpreting scores. Today, all modern standardized tests are (a) constructed, validated, and normed using large and diverse samples, (b) routinely updated to reflect changes in curricula and social context, (c) administered under uniform conditions to eliminate extraneous sources of variation in [Page 755]scores, and (d) examined using advanced psychometric methods (e.g., item response theory) to detect and eliminate measurement and predictive bias. All of these features help make standardized tests reliable and valid assessments of the constructs they are intended to measure. The tests are continuously being improved and revised to incorporate advances in psychometric theory, substantive research, and testing technology.

Standardized tests can be roughly grouped into three general types: (a) educational achievement and aptitude tests, (b) military and civil service classification tests, and (c) licensure and certification exams. Each type of test has a different purpose, but the main psychometric features are similar. In the sections that follow, a brief overview of each test type is provided, followed by a discussion of the important issues regarding standardized test use and future development.