The problem of the standard educational tests is caused by [br] [originaltext]

The standardized educational or psychological tests are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting students, employees, and military personnel. They have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress. The target is wrong, for in attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools, with characteristics that can be measured with reasonable precision under specified conditions. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly upon the tool itself but largely upon the user.
     All informed predictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance. How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability, and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error.
     Standardized tests should be considered in this context. They prove to be a quick, objective method of getting some kinds of information about what a person has learned, the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is.