Type Of Achievement Test example essay topic

Robert Schaeffer, FairTest's Public Education Director, explained "Test scores do not measure merit, as our Supreme Court Amicus brief in these cases clearly demonstrates. Reliance on exams such as the LSAT and SAT contributes to racially discriminatory admissions practices but does not improve academic quality. The Supreme Court rulings mean that more colleges which want to promote both equity and excellence will implement 'holistic' procedures, which reduce the role of test scores and focus on richer sources of data". Holistic admissions practices involve a comprehensive review of each applicant's full portfolio including such factors as high school academic performance, extracurricular activities, community service, and family background. Another interesting fact is that all the sources refer to the standardized testing as one of the arguable issues it is very difficult to find any supporting resource. This is strange, because argument usually require at least two parties.

One may ask: Where the supporters of standardized tests are? The other thing is that the opponents usually use the deceitful arguments like IQ tests do not measure intelligence, in reality, IQ tests are nothing more than a type of achievement test which primarily measures knowledge of standard English and exposure to the cultural experiences of middle class whites. If such sort of argument would address African Americans or Jews its author would be immediately accused in either racism or fascism and put to jail for racial bias. While it is a generally accepted fact (at least outside United States) that: 1. Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts.

Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings -- "catching on,"making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do. 2. Intelligence, so defined, can be measured, and intelligence tests measure it well. They are among the most accurate (in technical terms, reliable and valid) of all psychological tests and assessments. They do not measure creativity, character personality, or other important differences among individuals, nor are they intended to. 3.

While there are different types of intelligence tests, they all measure the same intelligence. Some use words or numbers and require specific cultural knowledge (like vocabulary). Others do not, and instead use shapes or designs and require knowledge of only simple, universal concepts (many / few, open / closed, up / down ). 4. The spread of people along the IQ continuum, from low to high, can be represented well by the bell curve (in statistical jargon, the "normal curve"). Most people cluster around the average (IQ 100).

Few are either very bright or very dull: About 3% of Americans score above IQ 130 (often considered the threshold for "giftedness"), with about the same percentage below IQ 70 (IQ 70-75 often being considered the threshold for mental retardation). 5. Intelligence tests are not culturally biased against American blacks or other native-born, English-speaking peoples in the U.S. Rather, IQ scores predict equally accurately for all such Americans, regardless of race and social class. Individuals who do not understand English well can be given either a nonverbal test or one in their native language 7. Members of all racial-ethnic groups can be found at every IQ level. The bell curves of different groups overlap considerably, but groups often differ in where their members tend to cluster along the IQ line.

The bell curves for some groups (Jews and East Asians) are centered somewhat higher than for whites in general. Other groups (blacks and Hispanics) are centered somewhat lower than non-Hispanic whites. (Dec. 13, 1994 Wall Street Journal p A 18).