Employers, postsecondary institutions, and civic leaders are urging greater focus on 21st century skills essential for college, career, and civic success: problem solving, interpersonal skills, and collaboration, among others. In response to these demands, states across the country are working to realign policies--on learning standards,…

The proper use of psychological tests requires that the measurement instruments have adequate psychometric properties, such as reliability and validity, and that the professionals who use the instruments have the necessary expertise. In this article, we present the first review of tests published in Spain, carried out with an assessment model…

A number of political issues are involved in educational testing and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Many school officials are disturbed by the number of tests administered and the information and instructional time lost; they are reluctant to accede to further voluntary testing programs which might duplicate current…

The major purpose of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is to provide information useful for improving the quality of American elementary and secondary schools. NAEP has focused more on the measurement of academic achievement than on the need for information on learning contexts. Additional information is needed about why…

This paper discusses the rationale for international comparisons in educational achievement, presents factors which affect the validity of such comparisons, and makes recommendations for the role of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) with respect to international studies. International comparisons are of interest in policy…

Two major issues related to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are explored: (1) the roles and responsibilities of federal and state education agencies in reformulating NAEP to facilitate comparisons among states; and (2) problems and solutions in aligning or accounting for differences between national assessment objectives and…

Nine papers were presented at the 1986 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference on outcomes assessment in higher education. The Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement was awarded to Frederic Kuder for development of the Kuder-Richardson 20 and KR-21 formulas for test reliability, the Kuder Preference Record, and the Kuder…

Recent developments in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have addressed criticisms of previous assessments and have focused on state education departments as the major clients for test results. NAEP currently indicates progress in academic learning but does not define which aspects of schools are responsible for successes and…

It has been recommended that the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) specify comprehensive exercise domains to measure academic achievement, and provide a national item pool to measure the objectives in these domains. These domain specifications and item pools would serve to satisfy the increasing demand for valid, accurate, and…