ENGLISH 1010

FALL SEMESTER 2015

IEP
By: Aaron Carlisle
12/11/15

RESEARCH JOURNAL
Source 1
I started with this source because I wanted to understand how standardized
tests affect students.
I acquired this source through Google scholar by typing in standardized test
and received many thousands of results; I found this article to be the most
pertinent to my ERP. I read the little blurb before I clicked on the link and read
that this paper mentioned, Both traditional innovative forms of assessment
failed to consider the cumulative impact of repeated testing
A. Author: Scott G. Paris; Theresa A Lawton; Julianne C Turner; Jodie L. Roth
B. Genre: Academic journal
C. Title: A developmental Perspective on Standardized Achievement Testing
D. Publication: Jstor, June-July, 1991
E. Authors purpose: to research and report findings about standardized
testing
F. Authors intended audience: Teachers, Students, Parents, Administrators,
test makers, and politicians who could affect the educational system.

g. Summary of argument/content: The authors argued that school tests are

being used, applied and created incorrectly. They also argue that
standardized testing is not a valid way of testing how ready kids are for the
real world.
h. Strong response (what you agreed/disagreed with): I agreed with their
stance on standardized testing because it is often testing memorization
rather than application of information. In this era memorization is decreasing
in usefulness with everything you could ever need at your fingertips with
access to the Internet in most devices.
I. What you learned from the article: I learned about the many more
applications that standardized tests can have, I started the paper with a more
2-d perspective of the test, but now I realize that they are not just for
students and teachers to evaluate progress but can also be politically
motivated
J. Its value for your topic/issue/problem: This article was valuable for my
topic because it gave me an initial understanding of what standardized
testing is really used for as well as its pros and cons.
K. Whats missing from the article that you want/need to find out/consider
(this leads you to your next source): One thing that this article is missing is a
more in depth description of the psychological impact of testing on students.
Source 2
I chose this article next because my interest was peaked on the psychological
aspect of standardized testing.

That In mind I typed into Ebsco the keywords, psychological and standardized
testing
I chose this article because while looking at all the multitudes of articles this
ones title intrigued me the most.
A. Author: Saga Briggs
B. Genre: informative article
C. Title:

ThePerilsofStandardizedTesting:6WaysItHarmsLearning

D. Publication: OpenColleges
E. Authors purpose: The author wishes to inform the audience on the
harmful nature of Standardized tests
F. Authors intended audience: Teachers, Parents, and administrators
g. Summary of argument/content: The author argues that standardized tests
are used incorrectly and are placing much stress on kids shoulders, when the
tests should be used to inform rather than to grade.
h. Strong response (what you agreed/disagreed with): I very much agree with
the authors stance on how standardized testing should be used to improve
education rather than rank kids.
i. what you learned from the article: I learned that test scores drive education
much more than I realized, and is used for much of the funding of schools.
J. Its value for your topic/issue/problem: This article is valuable for my topic
because it helps to solidify the information gained from previous articles.

K. Whats missing from the article that you want/need to find out/consider
(this leads you to your next source): One thing that is missing from this article
is more peoples perspective, I would like to learn if more people have this
same viewpoint. That viewpoint being that the system of standardized tests
is broken and needs to be fixed.
Source 3

I conducted a Google scholar search using the key words testing and learning and
this brought up many articles, and from these I chose one produced by ASU. I chose this
article specifically because its emphasis on affect to students of multiple tests.
A. Author: Audrey L. Amrein, David C. Berliner
B. Genre: academic article
C. Title: High-Stakes Testing, Uncertainty and Student Learning
D.Publication:ASUEPAA

E. Authors purpose: analyze the data of eighteen states to see if their high-stakes

testing programs were affecting student learning, the intended outcome of high-stakes
testing policies promoted throughout the nation
F. Authors intended audience: academic peers and academic officials
g. Summary of argument/content: high-stakes testing policies [do not] result in

transfer to the broader domains of knowledge and skill for which high-stakes test scores
must be indicators they suggest it is a failed policy, one that may be a waste of money,

and even have negative effects on the life chances of America's poor and minority
students
h. Strong response (what you agreed/disagreed with): I agreed with the
papers stance on high stakes testing, I have felt quite pressured to memorize
things so that I can do well on tests even though I tend not to learn that way
if I can help it.
i. What you learned from the article: I learned that high stakes test are not a
viable test to administer when trying to test for non singular subjects such as
broad domain knowledge
J. Its value for your topic/issue/problem: This article is valuable to my paper
because it supports the previous article saying that standard testing is not
the best type of assessment.
K. Whats missing from the article that you want/need to find out/consider
(this leads you to your next source): This article is missing the pros of
standardized testing, I would like to learn what reasons people have for
backing standardized testing.
Source 4

I conducted a Google scholar search using the key words testing Defending and
support and this brought up many, many articles. From these I chose one produced by
the journal of educational measurement. I chose this article specifically because its
opposite viewpoint relative to my previous articles, so that I could more understand why
some people wish to keep standardized testing.

A. Author: Howard Wainer

B. Genre: academic journal
C. Title: Defending standardized testing
D. Publication: journal of educational measurement
E. Authors purpose: to educate the audience on what difficulties would be
encountered if standardized testing were replaced
F. Authors intended audience: educational professionals and government
officials that are pushing for educational reform.
g. Summary of argument/content: The author talks about standardized
testing in this article and what would really have to happen in order to
replace this method of testing with another way to gauge students abilities.
h. Strong response (what you agreed/disagreed with): I strongly agree with
how the author adopted a rational approach to this, I have read many articles
that say why standardized testing is bad and what would be better, but this
was the first article that I came across that really
i. What you learned from the article: I learned from this article that even if a
much better alternative to standardized testing exists, it may be a long time
before anything can be done about changing the current test format because
much time and money is required to change a nationwide testing format. And
unfortunately even if the resources were available testing would have to be a

more pressing issue for the proper amount of money to be allocated to

changing testing to an alternative assessment.
J. Its value for your topic/issue/problem: This article is valuable to me
because it allowed me to experience the issue from a perspective that I was
not familiar with, and challenged how I thought about the issue
K. Whats missing from the article that you want/need to find out/consider
(this leads you to your next source): Now that I understood what it meant
that there would have to be something to replace the standardized tests I
wanted to know what alternatives there were to be able to transition too,
which lead me to my next article.
Source 5

I conducted a Google scholar search using the key words Alternative assessment and
research and this brought up only a few relative articles. Lucky for me I found one very
relative to my thesis so I chose the one produced by Questin. I chose this article
specifically because its information available to me, it had much research into what
alternatives there are to standardized testing.
A. Author: Worthen Blaine R.
B. Genre: Academic journal article
C. Title: CriticalIssuesThatWillDeterminetheFutureofAlternativeAssessment

CriticalIssuesThatWillDeterminetheFutureofAlternativeAssessment
D. Publication: questin, Feb 1993

E. Authors purpose: educate on the state of research for alternative testing

F. Authors intended audience: educational professionals, and government
officials capable of speaking on behalf of educational reform.
g. Summary of argument/content: This was a research paper that tells of the
multitude of alternative to standardized testing. And identifies some major issues

that educators must resolve if alternative assessment is to reach its full potential in our
schools.
h. Strong response (what you agreed/disagreed with): This paper was quite
un-biased and was unable to be sided with, but the paper gave a multitude of
examples with their respective pros and cons.
i. What you learned from the article: I have learned from this article that one
of the major hurdles in alternative testing is the money required to
implement the system.
J. Its value for your topic/issue/problem: This article is valuable to my paper
because it is quite research heavy and non-biased it gives a good break for
the reader.
K. Whats missing from the article that you want/need to find out/consider
(this leads you to your next source): one thing thats missing from the paper
is a more in depth exploration of each type of topic for alternative
assessments. And this is a direction I would like to go in the future if given the
chance to continue my English portfolio with another ERP.