Real and perceived misuses of educational tests, errors in test scoring and test use, and incidents of cheating on tests have been widely reported in local and national media. As educational tests take on additional importance for students, teachers, and schools, there is appropriate concern about the quality of assessments and the appropriate use…

Many individuals working in education-related professions have a variety of needs for educational and psychological tests results regarding their students or clients. This chapter addresses school counselors' use of tests in educational settings and the right to test as a competency-based issue. Although the subject appears on the surface not to…

Tests--typically cognitive achievement tests--are instruments for providing a more sensitive analysis of the learning sequence and of the instruction guiding it. In addition to an overall score, standardized tests provide a variety of subscores that help the teachers identify where a student might be encountering the greatest difficulties. The…

This report analyzes the validity issues that arise in the context of educational accountability systems. The report addresses validity from three interlocking perspectives. The first explores the theory of action underlying accountability provisions. It considers problems emerging from the distance between aspirations for accountability in…

The term "technology" often conjures up visions of scientific experiments and industrial processes, but technology is also a tool, something put together to satisfy a need, solve a problem, or attain a goal in social, economic, and educational institutions. In a broader sense, technology is any body of special knowledge, skills, and procedures,…

Two trends have converged during the past three decades to change the face of public school education in America. First, achievement testing has been greatly expanded in terms of both the quantity of tests available and the number of uses for the information collected from testing. Second, there has been a significant increase in the development…

A number of major studies are discussed concerning the effects of testing on schools and needed changes in test use to improve education. Test use is analyzed at building and classroom levels for insights on better education, and at local, state, and national levels for oversights of educational progress. (Author/CM)

Criticizes an article by Messick (1989) that emphasizes consequential validity (the potential and actual social consequences of test score interpretation and use) as a component of construct validity. Shows the profitability of separating the construct-indicator link from the indicator-score link, and the greater importance of the former.…

As education policymakers have moved to reform K-12 public education, the roles of test publishers in assessment have expanded. In the last two decades these expanded roles have coincided with the movement of assessment to the center of education reform initiatives. The drive for improvement in public education has made the roles of test…

This overview of the problem of linking testing and instruction describes two general policy areas which have focused attention on these links: studies of school effectiveness and minimum competency testing. Techniques used to investigate links between tests and instruction and policy issues that must be addressed are also discussed. (Author/CM)

A study was conducted of the public's interest in standardized student testing by reviewing the test-related sections of about 70 polls and surveys of public opinion. In general, the public favors more testing with higher stakes, perhaps because they consider testing in the context of real alternatives and find it best. (SLD)

Considerable testing occurs in the schools and in related educational settings. Schools are microcosms of society, and changes that affect society are also likely to affect the schools in similar ways. The composition of American society has been changing dramatically in recent years, and this particular change is one that has influenced schools…

Studies of the extent of standardized testing in U.S. schools in the early 1980s to 1990s were reviewed. All show the amount of systemwide testing to be less than two days per year. Methodological issues are explored, and the extent-of-testing estimates are updated to about 1995 through more recent research. (SLD)

The purpose of this chapter is to capture what the future holds for assessment in education and counseling. The author reviews the impact of technology, high-stakes testing, and testing accommodations. Concludes that since the use of tests and assessment in educational institutions will continue to expand, enhanced training in the use of tests and…

Examines international assessments, like the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, and what they can tell about how well Canadian students perform relative to other participating jurisdictions and how well jurisdictions do on different assessments at different points in time. Discusses uses of international comparisons to inform…