W. Patric Gregory on the History of Standardized Testing

Standardized testing traces its roots to the mid-1800s, and although it had been proven beneficial to students and to contribute to our schools’ overall equilibrium, it wasn’t until President George W. Bush implemented the 2001 No Child Left Behind education act that it really took off. To appreciate the purpose and value of standardized testing and its recent adoption, it’s useful to explore its evolution. Here, therefore, is a brief history.

An idea
Standardized testing started with a simple idea, curated in 1845 by educational pioneer Horace Mann. Mann suggested that students in Boston should prove their knowledge through written rather than oral tests, thereby displaying their knowledge in a more uniform, less subjective manner. His goal was to help educators identify and promote the teaching methods that were the most effective.
Early standardized exams focused on ability rather than achievement alone, thereby better revealing a student’s true potential. Mann’s approach, while slow to catch on, eventually rose to prominence in the twentieth century. Schools adopted a model based on the Army Alpha and Beta tests, which were developed during World War I to categorize soldiers based their aptitude.

Growth
In 1901, the College Entrance Examination Board was established as a means of building academic regulation across all collegiate candidates. The first of its exams were distributed nationally and covered nine subjects. By the early 1930s, as many as 1,300 achievement tests were available to educators, and, as a result, statewide testing programs quickly became the norm.

New approaches
In 1960s, the federal government conceived new achievement tests that were designed specifically to evaluate instructional methods and the schools that were engaging them. This initiative showed that standardized testing could be a powerful tool in identifying talent and producing a skilled workforce.

Modern developments
No Child Left Behind saw the expansion of state-mandated standardized testing as a means of assessing school performance broadly and objectively. The act stood until 2015 but succumbed to a bipartisan Congressional effort to replace it, with the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Today
Because of its objectivity and uniformity, proponents of standardized testing continue to advocate for it as an effective measurement of academic method and achievement. They argue that the tests eliminate the potential of teacher bias, an ever-present variable that can influence the ways in which tests are structured and graded. By contrast, the standardized approach levels the playing field – allowing students to be tested and judged in an evenhanded manner.

About the Author

W. Patric Gregory is an experienced business professional from Glastonbury, Connecticut. Patric currently serves as the owner and CEO of Highway Safety Corp, a company that has contributed to the highway construction industry for over 40 years. As leader of the company's senior management team, Patric is a seasoned strategist and innovator in his field.

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