History of Standardized Testing in the United States | NEA (original) (raw)

1917

Adoption into US Military Service

Lewis Terman and a group of colleagues are recruited by the American Psychological Association to help the Army develop group intelligence tests and a group intelligence scale. Army testing during World War I ignites the most rapid expansion of the school testing movement.

1917-1918

Intelligence Testing Becomes Mainstream

6,500 children are given the Stanford-Binet, as well as a new test written by Arthur Otis (one of Lewis Terman’s students who would eventually be credited with the invention of the multiple-choice format). Oakland, California, was the site of one of the first attempts at large-scale intelligence testing of students. By 1918, there are well over 100 standardized tests, developed by different researchers to measure achievement in the principal elementary and secondary school subjects.

Fall of 1920

Standardized Testing Sweeps the Nation

The World Book publishes nearly half a million tests, and by 1930, Terman's intelligence and achievement tests (the latter published as the Stanford Achievement Test) has combined sales of some 2 million copies per year.

1922

The Risks of Overuse of Standardized Testing Become Apparent

John Dewey laments the victory of the testers and quantifiers with these words: “Our mechanical, industrialized civilization is concerned with averages, with percents. The mental habit which reflects this social scene subordinates education and social arrangements based on averaged gross inferiorities and superiorities.”

1925

Measures of Achievement Become Entwined with Decision-Making

A U.S. Bureau of Education Survey shows that intelligence and achievement tests are increasingly used to classify students.

1926

Scholastic Aptitude Tests Are Adopted Nationally

The first SAT tests are administered. Founded as the Scholastic Aptitude Test by the College Board, a nonprofit group of universities and other educational organizations, the original test lasted 90 minutes and consisted of 315 questions testing knowledge of vocabulary and basic math. It even including an early iteration of the famed fill-in-the-blank analogies (e.g., blue:sky::____:grass). The test grew and by 1930, assumed its now familiar form with separate verbal and math tests.

1929

Support for Standardized Testing Begins to Waver

The University of Iowa initiates the first major statewide testing program for high school students, directed by E.F. Lindquist. By 1930 multiple-choice tests are firmly entrenched in the schools. Not surprisingly, the rapid spread of multiple choice tests kindled debate about their drawbacks. Critics accused them of encouraging memorization and guessing, of representing “reactionary ideals” of instruction, but to no avail. Efficiency and ‘‘objectivity’ won out.

1935

Standardization Gets a Boost from Computerization

High-speed computing is first applied to testing. Electronic data processing equipment was used to process massive numbers of tests. One report showed that the cost of administering the Strong Inventory of Vocational Interests dropped from 5pertestto5 per test to 5pertestto.50 per test as a result of the computer.

1936

Multiple States Adopt The Iowa Assessments

The first automatic test scanner is developed, a rudimentary computer called the IBM 805. It remained largely unchanged (save the occasional tweak) until 2005, when the analogies are done away with and a writing section was added. By the late 1930s, Iowa tests are being made available to schools outside the State.