Analysis of Accuracy of MidYIS Tests
Introduction
This essay is an exploration into the relevance of MidYIS tests as a
predictor for results at GCSE Music. A comparison will be made between
two sets of skills: those assessed by the MidYIS test - taken by most
children in England at the beginning of year 9 - and those which,
according to exam boards and experienced music educators, are tested
at GCSE. Certain fundamental skills required for success at GCSE Music
cannot be tested in the MidYIS tests, and I would suggest that a
combination of MidYIS-type testing, musical intelligence assessment
and some measure of the amount and quality of musical experience
gained before embarking on the GCSE course would serve as a much more
relevant indicator of likely success, and a more appropriate baseline
from which to measure value added. However, the term 'success' needs
defining - many pupils who are excellent musicians even before they
reach year 9 may not obtain the highest marks at GCSE, and this begs
the question, what exactly does GCSE music test, the musicality of a
pupil (which will be discussed with reference to Howard Gardner's
theories of multiple intelligence) or a pupil's ability to 'jump
through the hoops' required to do well in this type of exam? Schools
continually have their statistics compared, and the practice of
comparing 'value added' through the means of a baseline test, is
undoubtedly fairer than simply comparing final results. However, if,
as I will argue, the baseline test is largely meaningless, music
departments should not be put in the difficult position of having to
justify any statistical 'evidence' of underac...
... middle of paper ...
...GCSE?
What is missing in the MidYIS and Bentley that is fundamental to GCSE?
Sum up how you could do a research project into MidYIS' relevance to
each section of the exam paper.
Conclude on whether the MidYIS test is important.
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[1] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS/ (accessed on 22 May 2002)
[2] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS/documents/newsletter6.doc (accessed on
23 May 2002, published January 2000)
[3] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS/Psa.htm (accessed on 22 May 2002)
[4] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS/documents/newsletter6.doc (accessed on
23 May 2002, published January 2000)
[5] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS (accessed on 25 May)
[6] http://cem.dur.ac.uk/MidYIS/documents/newsletter7.doc (accessed on
23 May 2002, published Spring 2000)
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence. Rizga better proves her thesis through the use of solid argumentation. Rizga is more
Lanier, S.H., Mott, J.M., Ready, D.J., Sutherland, R.J., & Williams, W. (2012). A Pilot Study of
Collected data were subjected to analysis of variance using the SAS (9.1, SAS institute, 2004) statistical software package. Statistical assessments of differences between mean values were performed by the LSD test at P = 0.05.
Whether the student is a beginner, or someone who has studied music for a number of years, the way in which one views oneself as a musician can be an important factor in the kinds of experiences one has with music. A quality music education is one that challenges students to set clear and achievable goals, think musically and critically, and apply what one has learned in a meaningful way. If a musician harbors a negative view of his or her musical abilities, the lasting effects of this view on his or her musical experiences and achievement could be challenging to overcome.
While standardized tests are problematic at all ages and levels of schooling, they are especially questionable in primary grades. In these years children's growth is idiosyncratic (Russel, 2002). Skills needed for school's success are in their most vulnerable stage. Failure at this age can be devastating. 'My six year old is already crying himself to sleep at night worrying about his SATs,' states Mark Adams from BBC news (2003, p.1). It is necessary for teachers, school administrators, and parents to strongly argue that testing in the early years must end and testing in the years following must be reduced.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1992). Testing in America's Schools: Asking the Right Questions. OTA-SET-519 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office).
There have been many studies of IQ measurement. Some believe in testing and then looking at biology or heritage of the child. These people also like to use statistics to try to put some sort of explanation on IQ levels. Then there are other groups that use cultural ecology. They study IQ by what effect the environment has on a child, and feel testing it is unfair to the child. The problem is that these two groups rarely come together to help each other. So there are big questions as to what IQ really is and how it should be measured.
The Benedict's Test is used to test the presence of simple sugars in a sample. If sugars are present, a color change will occur from blue to red. However, although the Benedict's test shows the presence of sugars, it cannot accurately determine the concentration of sugar in a sample solution. In our method, we added specific concentrations of glucose to the Benedict's test to use as a chart to estimate the glucose concentration of an unknown solution X. Although this gives a rough estimate of the concentration, it is very inaccurate. For example, the mystery solution X was a pale orange color, which was between the colors in my first and second test tube.
The MR test media contains peptone, glucose, and a phosphate buffer (Stout et al, 45). To perform the MR test, I used the stabbing technique to inoculate the MR media. I sterilized the stabbing utensil under an open flame, obtained a small amount of unknown bacteria, and stabbed the MR media. Once the MR media was inoculated, I let it incubate for 24 hours in the 37°C hot room. After the 24-hour incubation, I added 15 drops of Methyl Red to the MR media to test for mixed acid production.
middle of paper ... ... Music was not taught in the high school I was in. To satisfy my interest in learning about music and how to play musical instruments, I had to find a source of education other than school; a great depiction in agreement with Graff’s claim that students are being limited by not considering their interests when creating curricula (Graff 197). In conclusion, education is broader than just falling into what the contemporary school system has to offer. Both Gatto and Graff proved this by explaining how conforming students to certain perspectives of education limits their potential in other educational branches that interest the students.
According to the website, I have an IQ of 113. I feel as though a site like www.iqtest.com could produce a “g” score because they make you pay too see an analysis of your results, which indicates to me that they put some effort into producing fairly accurate scores. General intelligence, also known as “g”, describes an individual’s specific mental ability, which is measured by tasks on an IQ test (Myers p. 405). The site breaks down your overall IQ results into different categories of intelligence and gives you an IQ score for how well you tested in a given area. For example, there is a category for “spatial intelligence” which is ones ability to predict what actions will happen based on varied conditions (Website). By looking at the broken down results you can compare areas you have strengths in, versus the areas you might struggle in. This is in accordance to what Charles Sherman found when he discovered that people who score high in one area tend to score high in similar categories (Myers p. 405). For a person to see what their “g” score would be they would simply have to look at which category they scored highest in and from that they would see in which area they have the highest intelligence in.
Rosser, J, Lynch, P., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D., Klonsky, J., & Merrel, R. (2007). The impact of
In this case study, we can use the data provided to analyse the number of cups of coffee consumed in a week for the males and females, by using SPSS. It is clear that it can be used the independent-samples t-test for this question. For this case, we can use the independent-samples t-test to compare the mean scores on some continuous variable for two different groups. In other words, we need one independent variable (e.g. males and females) and dependent variable (e.g. the number of cups of coffee consumed a week) to test significant difference in the mean scores for the two groups. From the coffee drinking habits research, we could obtain this statistic of how males and females differ significantly in terms of their coffee consumption during
To test whether or not this hypothesis is true, one should not do what every other researcher in this field has done in previous years: measure the immediate intelligence level after receiving music lessons through IQ tests or something similar. Rather, one should test for a statistically significant difference between the success of musicians and nonmusicians in their futures. This can be done through observing successful and failed business starters and their past musical experiences. By looking at successful business starters and owners and comparing them to failed business starters, one could whether or not there is a correlation between musicianship and success as an entrepreneur, one would be able to determine if playing an instrument actually has a role in success later in life. Very few, if any, studies have been done on people’s musical abilities and their success in the future, creating an area that has the potential to end the arguments between these opposing viewpoints by coming to a conclusion based on career success rather than the inconsistent results of immediate cognitive