Practical uses of standardized tests The value of the educational test is directly proportional to the extent to which the

results from its use are translated in to improved instructional, guidance, and administrative practices in the school. If these practices bring about improvement in the conditions under which teachers teach and the pupils learn, the primary functions of school administration and supervision will be realized. a) Instructional uses of standardized tests:- Instructional uses of

standardized tests for guidance, supervisory and administrative and research purposes has been emphasized so generally that very often the classroom teacher overlooks their real value in the solution of his own instructional problems. Yet this is where the most vital and important uses of such tests are to be found. The development of reliable, valid, and highly detailed measuring instruments has caused the teacher to modify his previous conceptions of the uses of standardized tests. Earlier experience with the more formal types of educational tests sometimes led the teacher to feel that the tests were merely time-consuming devises used for checking up on his teaching efficiency, from which he received little or non constructive help in the improvement of instruction. Quite in contrast with this idea, the more the modern conception of standardized tests implies their continuous use as instruction progresses. This means a continuous testing program, for experience with the other conception of the use of tests indicates that only through continuous testing will standardized tests ever come to function at their highest efficiency as instructional instruments in the classroom. Class analysis and diagnosis: - very often a teacher, at the beginning of

a school term, wishes to obtain advance information concerning the proficiency of her classes in certain subjects and their general preparation for the work. It is essential for her to know their weaknesses and their strengths in detail in order so to directly their work that the results will be obtained. She needs to know the background her pupils have been given for the work they will be expected to master during the ensuring year. Most modern standardized tests permit this type of views.

It is not always necessary for a teacher to employ a special diagnostic test to secure the required general data on the relative abilities for the class. For example, the ability to read silently is the basis of proficiency in so many subjects that the teacher should certainly secure a picture of the reading ability of the class. The result should indicate whether the class as a whole or the individual members of the class is able to interpret the printed page with facility, and so carry on their work without great assistance. It is also possible to test in a like manner for other general qualities, as well as for mastery of specific knowledge outcomes.

Individual pupil diagnosis:- closely connected with the use of the test

for pupil guidance is its use for the determination of the difficulties and variabilities of each individual pupil. While in general individual differences may not be so marked as to preclude reasonably efficient class instruction, the more that is known about each pupils weaknesses and strengths the greater are the possibilities for success on the part of the teacher instructing the group. The test results should be studied especially in the light of each pupils individual attainments and points of difficulty. The critical analysis of pupils test scores may very likely be a means of clearing up wholly unsuspected troubles that would otherwise continue to hamper the child and to reduce his chances for proper advancement. Although this type of individual analysis has great possibilities, it become increasingly valuable when it is definitely tied up with remedial material so devised that each child may be aided in correcting his own weaknesses.

b)

Guidance uses of educational tests:-

Schools are under constant criticism for their apparent failure to identify the special abilities of their pupils and to challenge these children to greater efforts. This is one aspect of educational guidance. Furthermore, it is charged that little or no attempt is made to direct children away from fields in which they apparently have little measurement of general as well as specific abilities of children, neither of

these situations needs to exist. Teachers, principals and administrators have found that test records obtained early in the institutions contact to be extremely valuable aids in handling disciplinary disciplinary cases and in helping pupils to adjust themselves in many other ways. Most disciplinary problems arise through the failure of the school system properly to stimulate and occupy the pupils mind. Many of the reasons for such difficulties may be made clear to the teacher by the wise use of properly selected tests. The necessary adjustments can then be made to correct a situation that need not exist if properly handled.

c)

Administrative uses of standardized tests:-

During the early period of growth and development of educational tests school administrators were the ones most directly concerned with their possibilities. Schools and classes were increasing in size, curricular offerings were expanding, educational costs were advancing, public interest in educational efficiency was increasing, and parents and teachers were growing more and more critical of the methods o f evaluating pupil accomplishment and the marking systems then in use. Administrators themselves were becoming increasingly critical if some of their own practices. Students of education and tax payers asked searching and frequently embarrassing questions. Communities demanded school surveys as a means of answering their own questions concerning the efficiency of their schools. Naturally during this period the administrator turned to the test as one objective means of handling of his problems of public relations. Pupil gradation and placement:- administrators, supervisors and the

teachers find the problem of pupil placement one of the most difficult situations they have to face. The indefinite lines of division between the grades and wide overlapping of ability between grades reveal that the typical techniques of pupil classification now in use are extremely crude. This could scarcely be otherwise in

view of the methods commonly used. The proper grade placement of pupils implies that as possible the individuals who are normal for their group should be placed together. This means that the pupils who are approximately alike in their chronological age, their educational achievement, and their physiological, mental, social and moral development should, where possible, be placed together for instructional purposes. Not all of these qualities lend themselves readily to objective measurements should be used in determining the pupils placement in his group. Through the development of reliable grade and age norms, based up on the achievement of groups of children on standardized tests, a valuable instrument for the establishment of grade lines and for within-class grouping is made available.

Group comparison: - since the earliest beginnings of group instruction,

classroom teachers have wished to know just how their pupils have compared to other similar pupils and classes. Until standard tests were developed, it was practically impossible to secure this information. Now the giving standardized tests in arithmetic, spelling, reading, or other school subjects makes fairly easy a comparison of results from a class with the norms established for the subject and grade.

Measuring efficiency of learning: - the general comparisons are cited

above are of great value in themselves, but equally important is the determination of ways and means by which the act of teaching itself may be improved. Ambitious teachers everywhere are looking for the best methods of instruction in their fields. Teaching methods, which in the last analysis should be studied in the classroom by the classroom teacher, can be evaluated effectively by means of standardized tests. Instructional units within the course study should also be evaluated. The measurement of the effect of certain types of drill exercises and the determination of the specific strengths or weaknesses of groups or classes illustrate the uncounted opportunities for administrative use of these valuable instructional devices.