Merit (1920-1945)
I.Q. Era
Although testing existed before 1920, the use of objective tests for educational purposes expanded after World War I. After 1920, psychometrics, or the study of the measure of psychological variables such as intelligence, soon became associated with the modern, scientific school system.
World War I "proved" the validity of scientific measures of intelligence. The U.S. Army successfully used intelligence testing during World War I to identify officer candidates. The Army Alpha and Beta tests were models for tests designed for educational purposes.
Psychometricians adopted and adapted testing for educational purposes after the war. The education profession and the testing community saw intelligence testing as a way to identify a student's academic potential. Public schools began using standardized tests as a way to measure the potential and achievement of students and to guide students into appropriate curricular tracks according to test results. Psychometrics and educational research relying on testing soon gained a prominent place within the education profession.
Institutions of higher education used intelligence testing and achievement testing for both admission and placement purposes. Many university schools of education and even public school systems established educational research bureaus.
While some educators wondered what was the influence of testing on the high school, the use of objective tests and the development of multiple-choice test measures such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test had an immense impact on both secondary and higher education.
For women, objective tests held out the possibility that female scholars would be judged according to their ability and talent and not on their sex. Girls typically did score equally with or better than boys on early Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Such scores provided an objective measure of girls' ability in relation to boys for college admission purposes.
There were two types of tests after World War I.
- Achievement tests: In use to aid college admissions since the nineteenth century. They measured the specific knowledge a student had acquired in high school.
- Aptitude, or intelligence, tests: Became more commonly used after 1920. They measured academic potential to learn, not specific knowledge. In the 1920s and early 1930s, many people promoting the use of aptitude tests connected intelligence with ethnicity.
The College Entrance Examination Board utilized both achievement and aptitude tests. The subject examinations used by the College Board from its inception were achievement test. In 1926, the College Entrance Examination Board devised the Scholastic Aptitude Test, an aptitude test.
Yet, the growing use of tests and the curricular standardization implicit in them made even some members of the College Board question "Is the College Board's influence harmful to the secondary schools?"
