"Anyone can confirm how little the grading that results from examinations corresponds to the final useful work of people in life."
-Jean Piaget
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About a month ago I wrote a blog post titled "The Shoulds and Should Nots of Academic Assessment: A Work in Progress" about my (evolving) philosophy on academic assessments. As a part of the evolution process of becoming an evidence-based, forward-thinking and inclusive academic assessor, it is crucial to reflect upon past and current assessments that I have experienced as a student and educator. As a part of this reflection process, a few weeks ago I created a blog post comparing the components of the best assessment I have experienced with my assessment philosophy. This blog post will serve as just the opposite: reflecting upon the components of the worst assessment I have experienced: the ACT.
The American College Test (ACT), is a standardized college-readiness examination similar to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), both of which are assessments designed to measure knowledge and skills that are learned throughout K-12 education and used to predict college success. Like many students in the United States, I took the ACT in the spring of 11th grade. At this time, though it was an option to opt out of taking the ACT, if future plans included college, refusing to take the ACT meant decreasing or even eliminating your chances at admission for many colleges. Colleges that required ACT/SAT scores during this time were predominant, including Michigan State University, where I completed my undergraduate degree. Despite taking the ACT for the end goal of getting into college, the ACT holds various problematic components that directly conflict with my academic philosophy.
Assessments should be equitable and accessible for all students
In 1926, the SAT was officially created, a test designed to measure students' innate intellectual abilities (Carlton, 2022). By 1959, Dr. Everett Lindquist created a new test that was designed to measure "school-level competencies" rather than aptitudes, which he argued as a better way to test school learning experiences (Carlton, 2022). Despite the seemingly good intentions of Dr. Lindquist, the ACT has been known to favor certain groups of students and contain problems of bias and inequity. All required sections of the ACT (English, math, reading and science) are given in a multiple choice format. Although efficient and easy for grading, multiple choice questions do not provide an equitable learning experience for all as multiple choice does not allow for differentiation for varying student needs and abilities. In addition, standardized tests like the ACT have been known to produce inequitable results for students of color, low-income students, and student with disabilities (Elsesser, 2019).
Assessments should be used to form future instruction and as a reflection of the teacher's pedagogical practices
Besides being a short and easy data source to inform admission decisions, I am not convinced that the ACT serves any purpose related to forming future instruction or providing opportunities for the reflection of current pedagogical practices. Instances in which the ACT does form future instruction have the potential to create and/or intensify a teach-to-the-test attitude within educators. Au (2008) argued that when teachers teach-to-the-test, they are likely to adopt pedagogical practices that correlate to the knowledge and content found on standardized tests in order to meet the demands of the tests. In turn, educators begin to directly and indirectly encourage learning as simply memorization of content, test drills, and test-taking strategies.
Assessments should be used to provide feedback to students and continue the process of learning
Opportunities for feedback are miniscule, or possibly even non-existent, when it comes to the ACT. After completing the ACT, a student does not receive any feedback until their score is released, which is anywhere between 2-8 weeks after the test. Although lengthy and dynamic, the score report that is given to students provides very little opportunities for the continuation of learning. When examining a sample student score report, "feedback" falls into three categories: 1. comparison to the Act College Readiness Benchmarks, 2. a percentage comparison to other recent students' scores in the U.S., and 3. a "detailed" results section in which each component (math, reading, science, etc.) of the ACT is broken into subcategories with percentages displaying readiness. The feedback provided by the ACT is generic at best and does not provide any opportunities for meaningful continuation of learning.
Assessments should be relevant and meaningful to students and enable students to apply knowledge to various contexts
Although the ACT could be considered relevant to prospective college students (After all, the C in ACT means college), the ACT excludes various students from being considered successful in the eyes of standardized testing. Many graduating high school students do not plan to attend undergraduate colleges and do not have a use for the ACT results, and, since the COVID-19 Pandemic, many colleges have even dropped the admission requirements for ACT/SAT scores altogether. In addition to the decreasing weight of ACT scores on college admission, educators are becoming increasingly aware of the idea that multiple choice standardized assessments do not provide an accurate measure of academic merit (Nietzel, 2022)
Assessments should be an opportunity for mistake-making and self reflection within our students
As the ACT provides little-to-no valuable feedback and combined with the significance that ACT results carry in our current education system, mistake-making is not only discouraged, but can even be detrimental to a student's future.
Assessments should provide opportunities for student choice to increase motivation, equity, and student ownership
Considering the fact that the ACT is a multiple choice assessment, there are virtually no opportunities for student ownership in the ways in which students can demonstrate college readiness. Multiple choice assessments rely heavily on various test-taking strategies that are explicitly learned by students which decreases equity as this directly relates to numerous personal disadvantages, like being unable to afford an ACT tutor.
Overall, the ACT is a considerable example of an assessment that does not align with my academic teaching philosophy. As research of assessment best practices progresses, I hope that our education system continues to move away from standardized tests like the ACT, and toward assessments that better align with current research findings.
References
Au, W. (2008). Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality. Routledge.
Carlton, G. (2022, August 15). Rivaling the SAT: A brief history of the act. BestColleges.com. https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/history-of-act/
Elsesser, K. (2019, December 11). Lawsuit claims sat and act are biased-here’s what research says. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2019/12/11/lawsuit-claims-sat-and-act-are-biased-heres-what-research-says/?sh=159a4ed73c42
Nietzel, M. T. (2022, November 16). More than 80% of four-year colleges won’t require standardized tests for fall 2023 admissions. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/11/15/more-than-80-of-four-year-colleges-wont-require-standardized--tests-for-fall-2023-admissions/?sh=72c9ede27fb9
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