Social scientists have long agreed that satisficing behavior increases error and reduces the validity of survey data. There have been numerous reviews on detecting satisficing behavior, but preventing this behavior has received less attention. The current narrative review provides empirically supported guidance on preventing satisficing by…

Good assessment is key to providing effective intervention, and thoughtful interpretation of assessment results is an important part of the intervention. This chapter focuses on the consultant and service recipient in the test interpretation process, including ways to help all participants in this process. In addition, case examples illustrate the…

The article reviews the development of infant cognitive assessment and describes selected tests. Considerations in choosing, administering, and interpreting the results of infant intelligence/cognitive assessment instruments are outlined. The usefulness of cognitive assessment is discussed as are new approaches to assessment. (Author/DB)

Recognizing the strong relationship between academic achievement and career options, this chapter reviews the major career assessments, their unique purposes, some technical considerations, and the types of scores used. Ways are suggested to enhance interpretation of career assessments using high-speed computers, Internet storage capacity and…

Tests and assessments are generally administered to gather data to aid in decision making, with at an individual student level or at an aggregated level. In order to incorporate assessment data in informed decision making, test users need to understand the test results. This chapter highlights the types of test scores and test score…

Sound testing practices and the high-quality information that can result are helpful to those who have oversight, responsibility, or interest in American education. To the extent that tests provide high-quality information, they form the basis for making accurate judgments about individual students. It is equally true, however, that factors which…

Three groups of persons are involved in the testing enterprise: test producers, test users, and test takers. A wide literature is available to guide the first two groups, but only recently have measurement professionals considered the interests of test takers in any careful way. The content of this chapter is presented as a set of 26…

In today's educational setting, assessment results weigh heavily in determining what students should know and be able to do. In addition, because assessment scores are often tied to accountability systems that affect both teaching and learning, they influence what is taught in the classroom. The changes in the use of assessments underscore the…

This chapter reviews the findings of a joint committee of the American School Counselor Association and the Association for Assessment in Counseling in the development of a document describing the assessment and evaluation competencies school counselors need. Among the skills universally considered important were making decisions about which…

In the United States, standardized educational tests have been used for assessment purposes in grades K through 12 almost since the inception of the testing movement in the early 1900s. Because test-based assessment can have wide-ranging positive or negative effects on K-12 students, the test user must ensure that the tests used for assessment…

Eleven major models of learning styles are compared in terms of variables, appropriate populations, validity of instrumentation, and supporting research. Discussion considers: (1) Dunn and Dunn's Learning Style Inventory for grades 3 through 12 and Productivity Environmental Preference Survey for adults; (2) National Association of Secondary…

Increasingly neuropsychologists are under pressure, particularly in child custody and personal injury litigation, to justify the validity of the tests upon which their assessments are based. Reviews research on the validity of clinical opinions based on tests and concludes that test scores must be used in conjunction with life history and current…

To show the difficulty of eliminating test bias and to develop a methodology for distinguishing between the effects of prior knowledge and of skill development on reading comprehension, 207 eighth grade students from rural and urban areas were administered an 18-question reading comprehension test. Quantitative and qualitative effects of prior…

Two self-administered, self-scored, and self-interpreted career interest inventories used by adolescents and adults are described, the Self-Directed Search and its Form Easy, an adaptation for poor readers. The paper discusses test components, subtests, and theory; gender issues; interpretation; appropriateness; coding discrepancies; and…

Intended for teachers, this collection of articles on testing in the English language arts contains the following titles: "What Do Test Scores 'Really' Mean in Educational Policy?" by George F. Madaus; "Testing and Literacy: A Contradiction in Terms?" by Marilyn Wilson; "Throwing in the TOWL," by Mary Jane Curry; "Taking the Authority Figure Out…