Validity and reliability are a major focus in teacher education accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). CAEP requires the use of "accepted research standards," but many faculty and administrators are unsure how to meet this requirement. The Standards of Educational and Psychological Testing…

The field of educational measurement has evolved considerably since the first doctoral programs were established. In response, programs have typically tacked on courses that address newly developed theories, methods, tools, and techniques. As our review of current programs evidences, this approach produces artificial distinctions among topics and…

Local assessment systems are being marketed as formative, benchmark, predictive, and a host of other terms. Many so-called formative assessments are not at all similar to the types of assessments and strategies studied by Black and Wiliam (1998) but instead are interim assessments. In this article, we clarify the definition and uses of interim…

Assessments labeled as formative have been offered as a means to improve student achievement. But labels can be a powerful way to miscommunicate. For an assessment use to be appropriately labeled "formative," both empirical evidence and reasoned arguments must be offered to support the claim that improvements in student achievement can be linked…

Considers what a responsible test developer would do to gain information to support the consequential basis of validity for a test early in the development. How the consequential basis of validity of the program would be monitored and reported during the life of the program is examined. The validity of the ACT Assessment is considered as if it…

In most large-scale assessments of student achievement, several broad content domains are tested. Because more items are needed to cover the content domains than can be presented in the limited testing time to each individual student, multiple test forms or booklets are utilized to distribute the items to the students. The construction of an…

In many school districts, the pressure to raise test scores has created overnight celebrity status for formative assessment. Its powers to raise student achievement have been touted, however, without attending to the research on which these claims were based. Sociocultural learning theory provides theoretical grounding for understanding how…

The articles in this issue, written from the perspectives of academics, practitioners, and publishers, show that examining the consequences of assessment is an important, large, and difficult task. Collaborative action by assessment developers, users, and the educational measurement community is needed if progress is to be made. (SLD)

How criterion-referenced tests can be used in program and curriculum evaluations is discussed. Topics include: understanding program/curriculum environments, determining an appropriate evaluation model, and standards for determining a CRT's and an evaluation's quality. Five instructional steps are outlined, and an annotated bibliography and a…

Provides an argument for incorporating consideration of consequences into validity theory that is grounded in the reflexive nature of social knowledge. It also calls for the consideration of evidence of validity based on the actual discourse surrounding the practices and products of testing. (SLD)

Responds to a negative evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and asserts that a review of the evidence for the NAEP performance standards indicates that there is support for the current approach to NAEP standard setting. Considers the scholarship of the NAS evaluation…

Takes issue with support of the standard setting process of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) advanced by critics of the evaluation of the standard setting process by the National Academy of Sciences and asserts that the achievement level descriptions developed for the NAEP no longer adhere to policy statements defining the…

As contracts to operate ERIC clearinghouses come up for recompetition in 1992, readers are invited to provide input to the Office of Educational Research and Improvement covering ways the ERIC Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation and the entire ERIC system can better serve the educational community. (SLD)

A summary of the writing assessment programs reviewed in this journal is presented. The problems inherent in the programs are outlined. A coordinated research program on major problems in writing assessment is proposed as being beneficial and cost-effective. (DWH)

Presents a set of program-evaluation criteria teacher-training institutions can use to examine the quality of their current assessment-training programs. Develops a self-study method for teacher-training programs. (SLD)