Although school psychologists often comment on examinee motivation in their reports, systematic evaluation of effort is not common practice. Empirical assessment of performance effort provides critical evidence for the validity of evaluations and will likely lead to more valid assessments, recommendations, and placements. This article focuses on…

As applied linguists and language testers, we are in the business of "doing language". For many of us, language learning is a lifelong passion, and we invest similar enthusiasm in our language assessment research and testing practices. Language is also the vehicle through which we communicate that enthusiasm to others, sharing our…

In language assessment, AI technology has been incorporated in task design, assessment delivery, automated scoring of performance-based tasks, score reporting, and provision of feedback. AI technology is also used for collecting and analyzing performance data in language assessment validation. Research has been conducted to investigate the…

Over the past decade, testing and assessing spoken-language interpreting has garnered an increasing amount of attention from stakeholders in interpreter education, professional certification, and interpreting research. This is because in these fields assessment results provide a critical evidential basis for high-stakes decisions, such as the…

Assessments are one of the most important--and often misunderstood--elements of education. In most cases, tests are administered by the state as well as by districts and schools. Assessments at each of these levels have distinct purposes, yield different information, and are part of a powerful, coordinated approach to improving student outcomes.…

The present systematic review examines Glenn Fulcher's contributions, works, philosophy, and research in language testing and assessment. The data includes his published articles, book chapters, books and interviews (except the one in this special issue) relevant to language testing and assessment from 1987 to March 2022. This study is conducted…

Although Diagnostic Classification Models (DCMs) were introduced to education system decades ago, it seems that these models were not employed for the original aims upon which they had been designed. Using DCMs has been mostly common in analyzing large-scale non-diagnostic tests and these models have been rarely used in developing Cognitive…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures employed by NWEA® to build and support the English MAP® Reading Fluency™ assessments administered during the 2020-2021 school year. It is written for measurement professionals and administrators to help evaluate the quality of MAP Reading Fluency. The seven sections of this report: (1)…

This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

The authors describe challenges of following professional standards for educational achievement testing due to the complexity of gathering appropriate evidence to support demanding test interpretation and use. Validity evidence has been found to be low for some individual testing standards, leading to the possibility of faulty or impoverished test…

Valid and reliable assessments are difficult to administer in PK-12 physical education due to a lack of resources. In this article, we discuss a collaborative model that may mutually benefit students in both the PK-12 and higher education settings. We detail a process with related materials and procedures that should be present for a…

Reading scores exist for a continuum of purposes, from informal assessment to formal standardized tests. This brief aims to answer the question: What matters most for elementary-grade teachers when thinking about reading scores, and what could policymakers do to help teachers? Three positions worth pursuing in this regard are shared: (1) every…

In today's digital age, tests are increasingly being delivered on computers. Many of these computer-based tests (CBTs) have been adapted from paper-based tests (PBTs). However, this change in mode of test administration has the potential to introduce construct-irrelevant variance, affecting the validity of score interpretations. Because of this,…

In "The Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better", the author's new book from which this article is drawn, the failures of test-based accountability are documented and some of the most egregious misuses and outright abuses of testing are described, along with some of the most serious negative effects. Neither good intentions…

In the service of educational accountability, student achievement tests are being used to measure constructs quite unlike those envisioned by test developers. Scores are compared to cut points to create classifications like "proficient"; scores are combined over time to measure growth; student scores are aggregated to measure the…