Test

History of Tests

Tests were first adopted in ancient China as a way to select individuals to fill governmental positions in the Sui dynasty in 605 CE. The approach was adopted in England in the early 19th century to serve similar purposes and was later used in education. The use of tests, or more specifically, standardized tests, in the United States was advocated in the mid-19th century by the famous educational reformer Horace Mann, who served as secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education at the time. Since then, tests have enjoyed widespread popularity around the world.

Importance of Tests

The use of tests has been a crucial part of educational reforms in the United States over the last several decades. For instance, tests were proposed to track and select students in the 1950s. They served for program accountability purposes in the 1960s and were used in minimum competency testing programs in the 1970s. They were further used for school, district, and standards-based accountability from the 1980s to the present, becoming high-stake tests, or tests that may have significant negative consequences. A typical example of the use of high-stake tests in the era of accountability is the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, the main law for K-12 general education in the United States from 2001 to 2015. It mandated states to test students annually at grades 3–8 and at least once in high school and report test results for the student population as a whole and subgroups. It also required states to track students’ performance in a school to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP). Any school that could not meet AYP 2 years in a row could face serious consequences, including shutdown.

The importance of tests in education can also be observed in many other countries, such as China. The most important test in China is probably the Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges, which is offered to senior high school students every June to determine whether a student is admitted to higher education and to which college he or she is admitted.

Different Types of Tests

Depending on the contents, purposes, criteria, administration, and other aspects of tests, they can be categorized into different types. There are achievement tests that assess individuals’ knowledge or mastery of specific school subjects, such as language arts, mathematics, and science tests. There are aptitude tests that focus on individuals’ potential for learning in a domain, such as the SAT. Tests can be made by states or educational testing organizations, such as the College Board and Educational Testing Service. They can also be made by teachers who teach a subject or class. Most tests made by states or educational testing organizations are standardized tests, which are administered and scored in a uniform and standard way. In contrast, teacher-made tests may be less rigorous than standardized tests. But they provide teachers with more convenience and flexibility.

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