In this article, the author explains the key differences among three kinds of instructionally relevant tests that can have a huge impact on what goes on in classrooms: "instructionally insensitive tests," "instructionally sensitive tests," and "instructionally informative tests." If educators understand the advantages and limitations of these…

Government agencies administer exams to appraise educators' effectiveness. However, most teachers and administrators are unfamiliar with how such large-scale tests are put together or polished. A profession's adequacy is being judged on the basis of tools that the profession's members don't understand. As such, educators need to have a dose of…

Readability formulas may detract from textbook quality. They overlook text and reader characteristics that affect comprehension. Moreover, average "readability levels" ignore wide variations within texts and between scales. The shortened sentences and simplified vocabulary used to conform texts to formulas sacrifice precision and connectedness,…

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Program (ACT) scores are the main determinants of college entrance in the USA. It is widely assumed that these tests are predictive of success both during college and in later life, but such views are incorrect. Another widely-held view, held by many educators, is that the SAT and ACT are…

Criticizes John Goodlad's book "A Place Called School," claiming the conclusions and recommendations are questionable because of a limited review of the literature, a lack of student achievement data, and methodological problems. (MLF)

John Goodlad, author of "A Place Called School," responds to Hersh Waxman's critical review by claiming Waxman takes terms out of context, ignores the author's caveats, and critiques what the book is not, contrary to everything the author says it is. (MLF)

For uncritical users, the Web can be a tangle of misinformation. A teacher offers tips to help educators and student evaluate the validity of Web sites. The four Ws of site validation involve determining who wrote the site, what the site is saying, when the site was created, and where it originated. Learners should not rely solely on Web resources…

Multidimensional creativity tests are more cost-effective than expert opinion in predicting creative thinking. Torrance (1966) delineated five purposes for using creativity tests: to promote understanding of the human mind, assist development of individualized instruction, provide additional information for remedial and psychotherapeutic programs,…

Assessment for learning involves the frequent, continual use of both formal and informal classroom assessments. It can be as simple as requiring students to respond to a lesson-embedded, one-item quiz as a way of gauging student understanding of what is being taught. Ideally, this innovative approach to classroom assessment is based on a careful…

Refutes Bonnie Cramond's claim that divergent-thinking tests surpass expert opinions in judging creativity. Baer's original article deplores using "creativity" tests to select students for gifted/talent programs. He recommends having experts evaluate the creativity of actual products (poems and artwork). All students should be taught…

Assessment reforms might fail because high stakes will be attached to them too soon, judgments will be unreliable, and lawsuits will occur. Educators need to consider technical issues including score reliability, task validity, portfolio sampling, and generalizability problems. U.S. schools would improve considerably if national Advanced Placement…