Educational Research Educational research is research conducted to investigate behavioral patterns in pupils, students, teachers and other participants

in schools and other educational institutions. Such research is often conducted by examining work products such as documents and standardized test results.

As with other social sciences, educational researchers use a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent[1] and are administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.[2]

Standardized tests Any test in which the same test is given in the same manner to all test takers is a standardized test. need not be high-stakes tests, time-limited tests, or multiple-choice tests.

Components: Multiple choice& True-false statements- are often chosen because they can be given and scored inexpensively and quickly by scoring special answer sheets by computer or via computeradaptive testing. essay questions- Some standardized tests have short-answer or essay writing components that are assigned a score by independent evaluators who use rubrics (rules or guidelines) and

benchmark papers (examples of papers for each possible score) to determine the grade to be given to a response. authentic assessments- or nearly any other form of assessment. Multiple-choice and true-false items Most assessments, however, are not scored by people; people are used to score items that are not able to be scored easily by computer (i.e., essays). For example, the Graduate Record Exam is a computer-adaptive assessment that requires no scoring by people (except for the writing portion).[5]

Non-standardized test.The opposite of a standardized test. Non-standardized testing gives significantly different tests to different test takers, or gives the same test under significantly different conditions (e.g., one group is permitted far less time to complete the test than the next group).

Score
Two types of standardized test score interpretations:

Norm-referenced -score interpretation or a criterion-referenced score interpretation. Normreferenced score interpretations compare test-takers to a sample of peers.

Criterion-referenced- score interpretations compare test-takers to a criterion (a formal definition of content), regardless of the scores of other examinees. These may also be described as standards-based assessments as they are aligned with the standards-based education reform movement. Norm-referenced test score interpretations are associated with traditional education, which measures success by rank ordering students using a variety of metrics, including grades

and test scores, while standards-based assessments are based on the belief that all students can succeed if they are assessed against standards which are required of all students regardless of ability or economic background.

Standards

The considerations of validity and reliability typically are viewed as essential elements for determining the quality of any standardized test. However, professional and practitioner associations frequently have placed these concerns within broader contexts when developing standards and making overall judgments about the quality of any standardized test as a whole within a given context.

Advantages validity and reability aggregation results are genaralized and replicable same test under the same (or reasonably equal) conditions

Disadvantages

"Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking,

curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of

other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, content knowledge, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning."-Bill Ayers accountability, the temptation is to use the tests to define curriculum and focus instruction
problematic tools for school accountability because the examinee scores are influenced by three things: what kids learn in school, what kids learn outside of school, and innate intelligence. The growing influence of test preparation is also a concern for some.