For too long, performance measurement systems in education have failed to document and recognize real differences among educators. But a recent national push to use performance evaluations for critical personnel decisions has highlighted the shortcomings of the current systems and increased the urgency to dramatically improve them. As state and…

A series of occupational competency tests representing all seven vocational education curriculum areas were developed, field tested, and validated. Seventeen occupations were selected for competency test development: agricultural chemicals applications technician, farm equipment mechanic, computer operator, word processing specialist, apparel…

Three professional associations, the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education, jointly adopted the new "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" in 1985. The relationship of these to earlier standards is reviewed, and implications…

The Test of Practical Knowledge seeks to measure students' skills to handle everyday life situations by assessing three domains: personal knowledge, social knowledge, and occupational knowledge. This paper describes the administration of the test to students in grades 8 to 12, the summation of data, interpretation of scores, standardization,…

A specific application of test equating is described, namely that of credentialing examination programs in the health professions. Considered are: (1) the role of test equating in the credentialing process; and (2) the issues that must be considered when implementing test equating in a credentialing examination program. (Author/LMO)

With the increasing globalization of human resources practices, a commensurate increase in demand has occurred for multi-language ("global") personality norms for use in selection and development efforts. The combination of data from multiple translations of a personality assessment into a single norm engenders error from multiple sources. This…

Technical advances of the last 15 years in measurement theory and practice are described, notably criterion-referenced testing, item response theory, and computers and testing. Several remaining problems concerning the development and validation of credentialing examinations are also considered. (Author/LMO)