Keywords

reading, standardized testing

Abstract

While some may think that standardized testing is a recent innovation restricted to the United States, it has actually been part of educational landscape for centuries (Min & Xiuwen, 2001; Spolsky, 1995; Barnwell, 1996). The first standardized tests were the proposed solution to combat the problems that existed with appointing civil servants based on cronyism instead of merit. An unknown functionary in the Chinese government hypothesized that a small sample of behavior gathered under carefully controlled circumstances would predict future behavior in uncontrolled situations (Wainer, Bradlow, & Wang, 2007). This observation led to the first, standardized, job-screening tests used to select candidates based on standards that evaluated skills. Getting a job became a product of what-you-knew instead of who-you-knew, and in many ways was a revolutionary idea.

Original Publication Citation

Cox, T. (2017) Standardized Testing in Reading. TESOL Encyclopedia for English Language Teaching