The tests we use to evaluate student achievement may well be sound measures of what students know, but they are faulty indicators at best of how well they have been taught. A remedy to this this situation of judging teachers by the performance of their students on high-stakes tests may be in hand already. We should look to the methods successfully…

Comprehensive academic achievement tests are routinely used by school psychologists in psycho-educational assessment batteries to identify learning disabled students. A variety of assessment measures are used across age groups to determine if a discrepancy exists between academic achievement and intellectual functioning; however, among the most…

Educational Testing Service's (ETS) international testing of student achievement (1988) was supported by politicians seeking simple answers, but results were badly flawed and pointless. ETS emphasized global comparisons among countries on a single achievement scale, using an arbitrary formula heavily weighted toward computation; actual questions…

The author states that the particular types of tests used in the classroom as well as the method of administering and evaluating the test may have a marked effect on the outcome of student measurement. The three most popular tests related to writing and transcribing shorthand--shorthand vocabulary tests, dictation tests, and transcription…

This chapter briefly describes some of the methods that test developers and psychometricians have devised to identify item and test bias and some of the challenges they still face. Although it may not be reasonable for classroom teachers to use these methods on a day-to-day basis in constructing tests, the authors argue that it is important for…

A defense is presented against the criticism that school psychologists who critically evaluate the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) are biased (TM 504 174). (MH)

This ERIC Digest discusses implications derived from the final report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, "A Nation at Risk." The first implication is a motivational one for measurement specialists: it is an ego-booster. The report is replete with results yielded from various testing programs, the fruit of the…

An inservice teacher education program--designed to make those administering tests more aware of the difficulties students face in a testing due to discriminatory factors inherent in evaluation instruments--is described, and information is provided on program purposes, content, activities, resources, ordering information, and history of…

Study focused on the problems of curricular misalignment with placement tests used in community colleges. Findings indicate that while pre-test and post-test scores were highly aligned, there was little or no relationship between placement test scores and student performance in class, or between test content and skills emphasized in class. (PGS)

As the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) has expanded, growing to 26 tests in 8 grades by 2002, new administration procedures have been needed. As these test administration procedures evolved, they were communicated through different avenues. This document consolidates the procedures to facilitate better understanding and more consistent…

Parents have needs, rights, interests, and responsibilities to know how standardized tests are used in the schools and to call attention to inaccurate test results; to judge the quality of education reflected by tests; and to have information to understand tests to help assess their children's abilities and achievement. (Author/CM)

Educational reform typically includes modifications in testing. The article discusses misconceptions about testing and reform, noting reform involves changing test structure or increasing amounts of testing. To provide accountability within educational reform, curriculum must be unified nationally, statewide, or locally because students cannot be…

This bulletin deals with the assessment of religious knowledge in the context of the examinaton for the Certificate of Secondary Education in England. In particular, the examination was devised in the hope of trying to determine whether or not it would be possible to assess the total impact on pupils of a four-year course in religious education…