Introduction
The fact that people have the ability to think and make rational or irrational decisions makes them the most complex living things on earth. This is due to the fact that they assess the advantages and disadvantages of various activities around them and decide on the best options available to them before doing anything.
It should be noted that human beings have a predetermined expectation while doing various activities. It can be said that human beings’ actions are usually subjective and aimed at achieving a certain goal in life. However, animals act by instinct and without having a subjective mind towards achieving a certain goal and in most cases luck seems to favor their activities.
The ability of human beings to think and make various decisions motivated psychologists and sociologists to explore the various differences in the abilities of individuals to think and make their independent decisions. This discussion explores the various ways through which intelligence and achievement tests are assessed.
Basic Rules of Assessment
The process of assessing any intelligence or assessment test is based on several factors that act as guidelines to the selection and ranking criteria. It should be noted that these terms form the basic rules of assessment in the process of testing and ranking people in the society. Perfect is a term that refers to the person with the best qualities according to what is being examined. This person is considered to have all the qualities desired by the assessment criteria.
Average refers to people who posses most of the qualities being considered for assessment while poor refers to those who lack any or most of the desired qualities (Friedman 2011). Normal distribution refers to the average pattern in which scores are distributed among candidates and is usually represented in a graphical pattern that shows few people on either ends while the middle part is occupied by majority if the participants.
The confidence interval refers to negligible errors of measurement on either side of the scores. A norm referenced score is the score that is used to make comparisons between a person and other people subjected to the same test. Reliability and validity coefficients test how reliable and valid a test is and they range from 0-1 with the higher number meaning that the test has more of the attribute being tested. A true score is the result of a person’s score if the test is very accurate.
Standard error of measurement refers to the measure of how close a person is to his or her true score. Standard deviation refers to the variations in the sets of scores achieved by people and it shows their differences in abilities.
Intelligence Tests
Emotional Intelligence
This is the ability of a person to know, evaluate and regulate his or her emotions and that of other people. The two models commonly used to evaluate emotional intelligence are trait emotional intelligence and ability models. The origin of this model is traced back to Charles Darwin’s work on evolution in his book The Origin of Species where individuals had to adapt in order to fit in the environment (Greaves 2009).
These models outlined the importance of perceiving an emotion, understanding, using and having the ability to control it. However, this model has faced several criticisms from other scholars who argue that it measures a person’s level of conformity and not ability.
In addition, it measures personality and general intelligence and thus not a suitable measure for people’s intelligence. It has been argued that emotional intelligence is exposed to forgery since it is a force towards consensus among members of the society.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
Intelligence quotient is a tally that originates from one of the many standard tests meant to evaluate the intelligence levels of people in the society. Intelligence quotient scores are determined by mortality, parental social status, morbidity and the levels of intelligence quotient of parents of an individual (Myerson 2010).
There are various types of intelligence quotient tests depending on the variables being used. Most intelligence quotient tests use variables like arithmetic, vocabulary and the ability of an individual to remember events and happenings in the society. In addition, Charles Spearman confirmed that there is a great relationship between these factors when the intelligence of a person is being tested. There are several theories that try to explain how different attributes are used to test people’s intelligence.
One of them is the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory that was proposed by Raymond Cattell in 1941. He developed Spearman’s concepts of evaluating people in terms of their general knowledge on events and issues (Myerson 2010). Raymond focused on fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence as ability to solve common problems by reasoning and using common sense and knowledge gained from experience, training and education respectively.
He hypothesized that fluid intelligence declined with increase in a person’s age while crystallized intelligence was not affected by aging of an individual. The second scholar is John B. Carroll who came up with the Three Stratum Theory that outlines three levels of measuring a person’s intelligence. These levels have individual with the narrow abilities at the bottom of the strata.
However, in 1999 these two theories were merged to form the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory that involved a comprehensive study of a person’s mind and analyzing all the relevant aspects of human life. Intelligence quotient tests are used to recruit military personnel in various departments. They are also used to admit students at various elementary levels of study in various learning institutions.
Achievement Tests
An achievement test is an assessment used to examine a person’s level of awareness in various issues. It defers from an aptitude test that tests a person’s ability to learn new ideas. These tests evaluate individual’s knowledge, skills and techniques of doing something or their ability to remember past events.
Work Performance Tests
Every organization has a set or goals that have to be achieved within specified periods of time. Therefore, it is prudent that all employees adhere to the terms of service in order to ensure these goals are achieved. It is necessary to note that it will be very difficult to assess whether employees are putting in their best without using performance tests at the work place.
These tests are administered depending on the management’s time tables but it is important that employees be subjected to frequent performance tests in order to ensure they are always on track as far as performance is concerned. It is important to note that some employees need close supervision in order to perform according to their employers’ expectations. However, sometimes the management is too busy and can not monitor their employees closely.
Therefore, the use of workers’ performance tests enables employers to identify employees that are not serious at their work stations. These tests enable employers to ensure their employees perform according to the targets set by the management without the need to monitor them closely at the expense of other activities.
Educational Assessment Tests
Educational assessment tests are offered in terms of admission interviews, continuous assessment tests and end of semester examinations. It is important to note that when students change schools or seek admission to new schools it is necessary to evaluate their level of understanding on various subjects and topics that have been learnt in previous grades.
These tests are done to examine whether students have met all the educational requirements of a particular grade (Greaves 2009). Learning institutions all over the world have various types of examinations used to test students’ understanding of what they are being taught. These tests classify students according to their levels of intelligence and seriousness at school and it usually groups them into top, average and poor performers.
These tests have faced a lot of criticism from scholars and human rights activists due to the fact that they do not reflect students’ abilities. These tests focus on intellectual abilities of students and do not address other abilities that are hidden behind students’ talents and gifts which are not explored in classes.
Conclusion
It is important to note that both intelligence and achievement tests are not indispensable means of evaluating and determining an individual’s level of understanding or performance due to the fact that there are other factors that influence people’s ability to deliver quality work. However, they offer insights into people’s abilities to do various things and improve on their weaknesses.
References
Friedman, H. (2011). Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Talentsmart.
Myerson, A. (2010). Fundamental of Personality. Montana: Kessinger Publishing, LLC.