Rethinking Standardized Assessment: A Critical Review of Equity, Inclusion, and Student Development

Abstract

Background: Assessment for accountability, selection, and performance monitoring continued to be a focus of standardization while the implications of that standardization went beyond measurement. Methods: This significant secondary analysis of evidence explored from the fields of scholarship, policy and institutional realms related to issues of equity, inclusion and student development. Materials were analyzed using a structured interpretive process that involved checking claims about control, reliability, validity, fairness, instructional effects, and developmental consequences. Results: Five recurring tensions emerged in the synthesis: comparable scores/validity in context; accountability/curriculum narrowing; formal equality/substantive inclusion; pressure on performance/well-being of students; efficiency of the system/Professional judgment. Where standardized tests allowed for comparison across schools, it also highlighted differential outcomes of attainment; however, standardized tests also reinforce inequalities of opportunity where varying levels of preparation, language proficiency, disability access and cultural knowledge were different. With high-stakes use increasing, there is an increase in teaching to the test, anxiety, labelling and strategic exclusion. Conclusion: The review recommended an assessory system of moderated teacher judgment, curriculum-based assessments, low-stakes standardized assessments, student portfolio, and equity audit. Reform was the change of purposes, consequences, governance and interpretation practices of tests.