STANDARDIZED TESTING IN THE 1960S AND 1970S: EXPLORING THE IMPACT ON
TODAY’S EDUCATIONAL CLIMATE
Open Access
Author:
Pebley, Emma Elizabeth
Area of Honors:
Curriculum and Instruction
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
David Alexander Gamson, Thesis Supervisor David Alexander Gamson, Thesis Supervisor Angiline Louisa Whitney, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
standardized testing 1960s 1970s
Abstract:
This paper serves as an exploration of the application of standardized testing in the 1960s and 1970s. In the current fervor for standardized tests, it is important to examine the history of these tests. By reviewing what types of tests existed in the past, along with the contemporary literature that helps to explain the feeling about these tests, I hope to present a picture of this period in standardized testing history. It is important to consider the tests themselves, the literature about the tests, and also the social and political contexts surrounding them. This discussion of the literature and testing of the past provides a basis from which to examine the testing situation of today’s education and warrants an examination of what, if, and how much our ideas and applications of testing have changed.
