Testing

Testing, in education and psychology, procedures to evaluate individuals with respect to intelligence, skills, perceptions, or other parameters. Testing in the classroom is generally nonstandardized, designed by the teacher to measure the achievements of the students in assimilating subject matter. Standardized testing in education is used to compare individuals to group norms, as in Graduate Record Examinations (GREs), or to measure them against predetermined standards, as in tests used to license professionals in law and medicine. Achievement tests measure learning in specific subject areas. Aptitude tests, which include intelligence tests that measure intelligence quotient (IQ), attempt to evaluate potential while eliminating factors of previous experience. Psychologists use a variety of personality tests, including both standardized tests that determine categories of personality profile and projective tests, like the Rorschach inkblot test, which can be evaluated only by a trained professional. Because test results are widely used to determine an individual's future in education and work, the validity of test procedures and contents must be scrutinized. Testing may inadvertently favor those of particular socioeconomic groups or otherwise express cultural biases.