Do High School Students Believe the ACT is an Effective Indicator of Their Capacities to Learn?

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Recommended: Debate surrounding standardized testing

Introduction
The domain of study I chose to research was how high school students feel about having to take standardized aptitude and achievement tests, specifically the ACT exam. My problem statement is ‘do high school students believe that the ACT is an effective indicator of their capacities to learn?’ I chose focus on the ACT exam because it’s what a majority of students in the Midwest region have to take in order to get into college. The discussion of the validity of standardized tests has caught my attention in recent years being a predominant figure in the news and on social media sites. Consequently, our most recent discussion question for Module 4 had me contemplating the key issues associated with the use of achievement tests and outcome assessments in educational research and what student’s responses are to the subject.
Hypothesis
I propose that most high school students do not believe the ACT is an effective indicator of their capacities to learn. However, based on the research I’ve already found online, I don’t believe that there will be an overwhelming majority of people agreeing or disagreeing with the matter. Conversely, until I receive the results from my data collected I won’t know with 100% certainty that any of my assumptions on the matter are correct.
Discussion of Research Problem
Standardized aptitude tests predict how well students are likely to perform in some subsequent educational setting. The most common examples are the SAT-I and the ACT both of which attempt to predict how well high perform in college. Standardized achievement-test scores are what citizens and school board members rely on when they evaluate a school's effectiveness. Nationally, five such tests are in use: California Achievement...

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.... (2007). State standardized testing programs: Their effects on teachers and students (RM07228). Storrs, CT: Retrieved October 7, 2013 from The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/moonbrja.html.
Popham, James. (1999). Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality. Retrieved: October 24, 2013 from Scholar Google: http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://cepd410101.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48464721/measure.doc&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm1SjGhc1DVMdmJdcTbQm1Qx_xhcfQ&oi=scholarr
Valdés, Guadalupe; Figueroa, Richard A. (1994). Bilingualism and testing: A special case of bias. Retrieved: October 21, 2013 from Second language learning.

What’s Wrong with Standardized Tests? (2012 May, 22). Retrieved October 7, 2013 from Fairtest websites: http://www.fairtest.org/facts/whatwron.htm.

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