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Disadvantages Of Testing And Evaluation

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Testing and evaluation are considered as an indispensible component of all educational programs. Their importance is so high that without necessary information obtained through different modes of assessment (including tests); educational systems cannot make clear-cut decisions about the achievement and progress of students. Indeed, as Good and Brophy (1980) mention, information gained through assessment provides a basis for the selection, placement, certification, benchmarking and several other purposes. The role of assessment becomes vital in that it constructs a measure and criterion that affects the educational life of test takers. Test is a common measurement tool and according to Haladyna (2004) “A test is a measuring device intended …show more content…

The reason for this popularity lies in numerous strengths that make it well-suited for assessment of mental attributes. MC tests are reliable, objective, unbiased, rapid, and easy to administer and score (Hughes, 2003). Perhaps one of the most principal advantages of MC tests is related to their flexibility for assessing a diversity of contents, abilities and skills (Osterlind, 2002); in other words, MC tests are versatile and have the capacity to measure a wide range of educational objectives and subject-matter areas in a relatively short period of time (Heaton, 1990). MC tests can be scored and assessed easily and quickly, manually or by scoring machines (Simkin & Kuechler, 2005). This feature has a crucial role in high-stakes large scale assessments when the number of test takers is high; the results are of paramount importance for stakeholders; and they are required in short amount of time. Moreover, unlike essay type tests which require a specialist in the field to correct and score the questions, MC tests do not require a specialist and can be scored by anyone. This issue adds objectivity to scoring and immunes the results of the test and also eliminates threats to validity leading to production of strong and desirable educational measurement characteristics (Downing & …show more content…

Most classroom assessments, large scale and high-stakes assessment in Iran, like university entrance examinations utilize 4-option MC tests. It is the same in important proficiency tests like TOEFL. “The number of distractors required for conventional MC item is a matter of some controversy” (Haladyna, 2004, p. 69). In spite of the widespread use of 4-option MC items, earlier studies recommended using 3-option MC items (Rodriguez, 2005) while authors of books on assessment struggled for increasing number of options (Haladyna et al.,

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