Cons of Standardized Instruments
1. No campus control over
content, format, and style of questions. Thus, the test may not reflect
the goals and content of your program or curriculum – may measure only
a small portion of what is taught.
2. Over time, the test may
unduly influence what is taught by faculty.
3. Comparison scores may
be based upon inappropriate or unrepresentative norm groups.
4. Less sense of ownership
by faculty and staff, and therefore, less likely to be used for improvement.
5. May be expensive to purchase
and score.
6. May not provide data for
follow-up analysis, and will give little information to indicate why some
scores are low.
Pros of Local Instruments
1. Reflects the goals and
content of the curriculum – it tests what is actually taught.
2. Amenable to a variety
of formats (problem solving, essay, performance, etc.)
3. Greater sense of local
ownership by faculty, staff, and students.
4. Local data enhances additional
analysis of results and programmatic uses.
Cons of Local Instruments
1. May have less external
credibility and internal legitimacy.
2. More difficult to establish
validity and reliability.
3. Lack of normative data
for comparisons
4. Can be costly to design
and produce (time consuming and difficult).
5. Scoring and reporting
must be locally designed.
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