European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday april 6,1986 standardized test makers shift course in response to critics by Jonathan Friendly new York times t Esting companies in the United states acknowledging qualms Over the growing Reliance on standardized multiple Choice exams Are developing techniques that the say will make their tests More reliable and comprehensive. About 20 million americans each year take standardized multiple Choice tests. The Best known Are those for College admission but others Are being increasingly used to help determine everything from a child s readiness for first Grade to a Golf pro s qualifications. I think there s too much emphasis in the United states right now on tests said Gregory r. Anrig the president of educational testing service the oldest and largest provider of standardized tests. They provide useful information but they re limited in what they can  that is what critics have been warning for years without much effect. That people in the Trade Are now acknowledging such worry signals a shift but it does not necessarily Point to an Overall reduction in testing. The educational testing service based at Princeton n.j., has announced a 15-year, $30 million Effort to develop a new generation of tests that it says will be less concerned than the present tests Are with absolute scores and More useful in describing what the test taker does and does not know. . And Many of the 100 other testing companies now include essay questions scored by individual readers who Are instructed to use both objective and subjective standards. The companies Are also working on computer based techniques that include having the test rather than a teacher determine what the student needs to study next. Rather than test general knowledge or aptitude test designers Are trying to devise exams that relate to specific occupational or academic skills. The demands of customers Are behind some of the changes. For example As colleges look at a More varied Pool of applicants to keep their enrolments up testers Are concentrating on examinations to help them diagnose which students need remedial work. And in response to court cases charging that tests discriminate against Blacks and other minority groups the Industry is devoting new attention to devising Bias free questions. These new strategies have not appeased the testers most severe critics who complain that the focus on test scores trivializes learning wastes pupils time in developing test taking skills that have Little use in later life and forces schools to tailor what they teach to what is tested rather than what the educators believe students need. We be moved to a scoreboard mentality in this country said Chris Pipho of the education commission of the states in Denver. The Public wants to know a Bottom line  in schools the scores control Many of the decisions that teachers formerly made on the basis of class performance. Nine states rely on test scores to determine if a Pupil will go to the next Grade. Nineteen states now refuse a High school diploma to students who fail a standardized test up from six states five years ago. Last year South Carolina started requiring that 6-year-Olds take a multiple Choice test to see if they were ready to enter first Grade. At the same time North Carolina began a program that requires lengthy summer school work for elementary school pupils who fail statewide standardized tests. Most of those programs Are an incorrect use of the tests because they remove human judgment said George Radhaus the director of the Center for testing at Boston College. When you attribute very important rewards to these test scores you distort the very thing you Are trying to  the tests Given for College admission the Scholastic aptitude tests and the american College tests taken by a total of 1.75 million people Fork times photo Gregory r. Anrig president of educational testing service the largest provider of standardized tests. Annually Are changing to reflect some new realities. Some colleges for instance do not require them of adult applicants. And because coaching programs have helped thousands of students improve their test scores Many admissions offices Are leery of depending too heavily on the scores to forecast How a student will do academically. I cannot see it disappearing said Oluf m. Davidsen the president of the . Program in Iowa City but i expect the manner in which we choose to use the test is going to be  e.t.s., acknowledging the shift under Way in what colleges want from the tests says it is developing placement tests that use a technique called computer adaptive testing to pinpoint student s academic weaknesses. In a prototype being offered this year a student answers questions As they Are presented on a computer screen. The computer uses the answers to determine whether the next questions should be easier or tougher ultimately zeroing in on specific areas a student does not understand. Lucky Abernathy who directed the test s development said the technology could be used As a substitute for a College s midterms or finals. He said it could help measure How much College students Learned a value added test that education Secretary William j. Bennett has endorsed. Ultimately said Anrig the computer will also present instructional materials reducing the need for faculty members to Tutor under prepared students. We re shifting to learning rather than judging he said. That Prospect worries some critics who say curriculum have already gotten too close to tests. Elementary and secondary teachers say the convergence is inescapable if the Public continues to treat standardized test scores As the barometer of school Quality. Political leaders including president Reagan have hailed rising test scores As an indication that schools have improved the teaching of Reading writing and mathematics. Critics of tests however said the numbers indicated simply that teachers had been drilling students in test taking techniques. Much of it is described As educational testing " said Walt Haney of the Boston College Center for teaching but most of it has far less to do with teaching and learning than with school administration and  in an appraisal of the growth in testing for educational leadership a monthly Magazine for school supervisors he noted that standardized tests Seldom closely matched the material that children had been asked to learn and that the test results were returned far too late to Tell teachers what it was that their students did not know. Administrators said they condemned the practice of teaching test questions but conceded that they too Felt they were being judged by test results when the average scores for each school Are published. Every other measure of school achievement including dropout rates or innovative programs is simply shoved aside when the scores Are printed in the Spring said Page Mccullough the director of the Atlantic Center for research in education in Durham . Many states require standardized tests for certain jobs and licenses and vocational testing which has grown As rapidly As in school testing is also undergoing change. Designers of tests Are moving away from general knowledge examinations and toward questions More closely related to the skills needed for the particular occupation. As states have turned to new testing requirements the services have had to devise examinations for beauticians bartenders and automobile mechanics among others. Most of the problems they face revolve around the Issue of ethnic discrimination and the relevance of the tests to the jobs. Four years ago a study for the National Academy of sciences warned that Blacks and other minority groups could be Hurt if employers and admission offices used the tests to the exclusion of other criteria but concluded that the tests were not inherently unfair to those groups. Several recent court cases have renewed the Issue of fairness however