Testing Education

This week I’ve been studying to take the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) as a required for admission to the Utah State University graduate school. I’ve read the packet they sent me, I’ve taken four of the eight sample tests from the study guide, and in every one I’ve felt like I’m randomly guessing. So far on the practice tests I have gotten scores everywhere from 70% down to 53%, and let me tell you, it’s frustrating!

Here is a example test question so you can see why I’m so frustrated:

Ginsberg: Kerouac :: Hughes: (a. Hurston b. Walker c. Morrison d. Lee)

Okay, so I know these are all last names of people, now I’m supposed to figure out how the relationships work between them to choose the correct answer from the options. There are no context clues to help me out, not even a first name. I’m thinking Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Ambassador Karen Hughes, so I wonder what any of the rest of these people have to do with the running of our government system. Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of Kerouac, so I’m left with guessing.

The correct answer is A, but I didn’t know that. Apparently Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes both emerged from the Harlem Renaissance just as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac both emerged from the beat movement. Did you know that? Someone must have because I went to the internet and found all of them on Wikipedia, but I’d never even heard of the Harlem Renaissance or the Beat Movement before now.

This experience makes me wonder, what do these tests honestly prove anyhow? In the 400 questions I’ve practiced on so far, I’ve gotten 231 correct answers, a little better than 57% average. As I read the explanations for the correct answers, I’m finding I missed a few because I had narrowed down to two responses and chosen the incorrect one, but too many others I miss because I have absolutely no idea what they are either asking or what the responses mean.

Now, I’m a college graduate with a degree in Secondary Education, a major in English and a minor in psychology and several graduate classes behind me. I’ve taught school for twenty-seven years, and I’m extremely well-read. I watch documentaries and the educational channels sometimes for fun. If I have to random guess on a test like this, I wonder what happens to others who haven’t had the reading and life experiences that I’ve had when they take these tests.

That leads me to the next step question, when did schools begin to reply so heavily on standardized test scores such as this, and better yet, why? There is no way to study for a test such as this. Standardized testing began to take hold of the school system in the mid-1960s and it’s gone rampant ever since, working its way down from college entrance exams to annual testing through all the grades, including kindergarten. But what do test scores really prove? Does a high test score mean a successful life? Does a failing score mean one didn’t study the right courses? Has American Education gone too far? Do we require too many tests?

I’ll go take my test this week, and according to others I know who have taken it, I will probably do well enough to be admitted to graduate school, but my final question still remains: Who benefits from the test the most—the person who takes it, the registrar who considers it, or the company who makes the students pay to take it?