This monograph has grown out of a series of discussions and a six-month period of reading and reflecting on the literature which were initiated by Fritz Mosher's suggestions to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to examine the "standards" question. Conversations with Mosher himself and the staff of NAEP have been most…

Like any component in a system, the use of criterion-referenced tests is a function of a larger context, of the contingencies in the system to which it belongs. Accordingly, the usefulness of criterion-referenced tests is determined by the consequences of the feedback from such tests. (Author)