The College Board’s big test (formerly called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, then the Scholastic Achievement Test, and now just SAT) might be thought to show how effective teachers are in conveying material to their students. If most give correct answers, that would seem to indicate that their teachers were doing a good job.
Not so fast, argues UCLA’s Walt Gardner in today’s Martin Center article.
Gardner writes that, “The College Board, which owns the test, says its design permits admissions officers to compare test takers. But, as W. James Popham conveys in Testing! Testing!, if the SAT were loaded up with items that measured the most important material taught effectively by teachers — the reason for its existence in the eyes of many — test scores would be bunched together, making comparisons impossible. To avoid that inevitability, designers are forced to engineer what is called ‘score spread.’”
Therefore, if too many test takers get an item right, the College Board people are apt to delete the question in the future.
Gardner observes that the College Board is struggling financially. It has had to lay off quite a few workers. If his analysis here is correct, it may continue plunging.