Ineffective Assessment Methods for a Test to Term Paper

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Ineffective Assessment Methods

For a test to be accepted within the academic community, it must be both reliable and valid. A reliable test produces consistent results. A valid tests measures what it purports to measure. A good example of reliability is the 'kitchen scale' example. If you weigh the same cup of flour and it is 4 ounces, then 4.25 ounces, then 4.5 ounces on various attempts to use the scale, one after another, it is not a reliable scale (Classroom assessment, 2013, Florida Center for Instructional Technology). Similarly, a test which suggests that the same student is above or below grade level, after the same student takes the same test in rapid succession with no additional preparation raises questions about its reliability. "Generally, if the reliability of a standardized test is above .80, it is said to have very good reliability; if it is below .50, it would not be considered a very reliable test" (Classroom assessment, 2013, Florida Center for Instructional Technology).

A test can be reliable but not valid. For example, the cup of flour might reliably weigh 4 ounces on a scale with every attempt but if it actually weighs 5 ounces, the scale is not valid. Similarly, a test which suggests a student is above or below grade level -- although he is not, based upon other accepted assessments of his or her validity -- is not valid. But test validity can be more subjective to assess regarding human beings.

A good example of this is the previous version of the SAT, the required test many students must take to be considered as an applicant for a college. Virtually all students entering undergraduate programs in the nursing profession must take the SAT. The SAT was purportedly reliable predictor of students' grades during their first year of college (it is not an intelligence test, contrary to what many people believe). "The College Board's Handbook for the SAT Program 2000-2001 claims the SAT-V and SAT-M have a correlation of .47 and .48, respectively, with freshman GPA (FGPA)" (SAT I: A faulty instrument for predicting college success, 2007, Fair Test).

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However, this assessment is controversial: furthermore, while the validity of the SAT as a predictor of performance of first year grades was debatable, whether this was valid to assess the student's overall future academic success in college was even more controversial. "After a three-year validity study analyzing the power of the SAT I, SAT II, and high school grades to predict success at the state's eight public universities, University of California (UC) President Richard Atkinson presented a proposal in February 2001 to drop the SAT I requirement for UC applicants. The results from the UC validity study, which tracked 80,000 students from 1996-1999, highlighted the weak predictive power of the SAT I" (SAT I: A faulty instrument for predicting college In other words, when a student's entire academic career was considered, SAT scores were poor predictors of performance, indicating that as a valid test of predicting overall achievement in college, the test fell short. Critics have long complained that the SAT fails to measure "high-level intellectual strengths, imagination, judgment, inductive reasoning, and abilities to reflect, organize, and synthesize" which are important in taking upper-level college classes (Heller 1997:110).

From the perspective of the nursing profession, there are also serious concerns that standard admissions tests like the SAT do not fully test the scientific reasoning skills demanded of a nursing program as well as the additional motivation demanded in nursing schools. This is why an additional component has been added to many nursing acceptance requirements in the form of the HESI A2 Exam. This exam "consists of seven academic exams and a personality profile that identifies the applicant's learning style" (HESI Admissions Exam, 2013). There are assessment sections of the applicant's basic knowledge of anatomy, biology, and chemistry as well as a personality profile and learning style assessment which attempt to determine if the candidate's personality and learning style is conducive to the approach taken by the nursing profession. The HESI is an attempt to enhance the overall validity of the admissions process for incoming nurses.

The SAT has since been reformed to some degree, and data is still.....

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