This chapter addresses assessment (testing) with an emphasis on the 100-year period since the American Education Research Association was formed. The authors start with definitions and explanations of contemporary tests. They then look backward into the 19th century to significant work by Horace Mann and Herbert Spencer, who engendered two…

This article investigates the persistent and change elements of educational testing and assessment from 1920 to the present day. I show by examining the addresses and texts of American Educational Research Association presidents a continuing focus on schools, from early experiments and development up through applications in accountability systems.…

We describe some of Merl's more subtle contributions that extended beyond his own prodigious scholarly record, his high-quality teaching, and his mentoring of students. The context of our remarks on Programmatic R&D focuses on his contribution to the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Education. Merl was the first director of…

This article describes the history, evidence warrants, and evolution of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing's (CRESST) model-based assessments. It considers alternative interpretations of scientific or practical models and illustrates how model-based assessment addresses both definitions. The components of the…

Discusses the intellectual history supporting the use of educational testing and describes four current tensions in testing: (1) learning and change versus measurement models; (2) quality of information and policy use; (3) precision versus utility; and (4) individual attainment versus standardized attainment. (SLD)

This analysis of the role of testing in educational programs and services maintains that the connection between tests and instruction is best made integrally through an understanding of the design of learning tasks rather than through linkage. The context for, use of, and limitations of task structures are described. (Author/CM)

Two examples of the interaction between computer technology and assessment are described: a tool-based knowledge representation approach to assess content understanding and a team problem-solving task involving negotiation. The examples serve as the context for the exploration of validity, equity, and utility. (LZ)

Over the last 20 years, writing about technology (and more recently about its use in assessment systems) has been a joyful experience, in part because the author was usually right about how fast and how unexpected technology progress would be made. In this article, the author suggests to rethink assessment systems from design perspectives and the…