Over recent decades, a great amount of attention has been globally directed to school achievement evidenced by large-scale assessment programmes. Additionally, there has been an increase in expectations regarding teachers' use of data. Against this backdrop, there arose a clear demand for assessment-literate teachers, mapping out the changes that…

Washback and fairness are interrelated in validity research, and thus an investigation into washback inevitably involves fairness. This article reports Phase One of a washback study of "Test for English Majors for Grade Eight" (TEM8). Phase One was a questionnaire survey administered to university program administrators. Two research…

This response to the comments contains three main sections, each addressing a subset of the comments. In the first section, I will respond to the comments by Brennan, Haertel, and Moss. All of these comments suggest ways in which my presentation could be extended or improved; I generally agree with their suggestions, so my response to their…

In "How Is Testing Supposed to Improve Schooling?" Edward Haertel has proposed a framework for thinking about the mechanisms by which testing might improve the various educational processes undertaken in schools. The framework seems to the author to be quite general (he uses the word "general" here in its mathematical sense of including all cases)…

Discusses how the use of state test results in isolation to make important decisions about schools and students essentially guarantees that woes will follow. Situates the discussion in the context of state-mandated testing in Massachusetts and explains why scores on the Massachusetts examinations fluctuate. (SLD)

The theory, presented by Ginsberg (TM 508 964), that quantitative indicators are likely to be corrupted when used for purposes of accountability is supported by the results of the Learning Disabilities Identification Study. The quantitative indicator in this case had to do with selection of pupils eligible for services for the handicapped. (BW)

In determining what will best help learning, the timeliness and possible reversibility of teachers' decisions are influenced by standardized achievement tests. Ways tests can supplement other performance information and confirm or challenge teachers' impressions of student achievement are described. (CM)

This report describes how one of our nation's largest urban school systems works through the complexities of diverse testing programs, testing schedules, and students to produce timely results that help students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to produce sound decisions about learning. (Author)

This Handbook is intended to help educators understand testing, interpret test results, and defend the selection, construction, and use of tests. The Handbook, tailored to the needs of educators, analyzes only tests used by educators. The Handbook contains more than 100 reviews of tests used routinely to make education decisions and assess skills…

A project conducted in Tennessee from 1984 through 1989, Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (Project STAR), serves as a context for a discussion of educational research. The decisions required in major research projects and the problems in carrying out research are seldom discussed in conferences that present research results as completed efforts.…

This paper reviews recent research in the Netherlands on the application of decision theory to test-based decision making about personnel selection and student placement. The review is based on an earlier model proposed for the classification of decision problems, and emphasizes an empirical Bayesian framework. Classification decisions with…

As part of a project formulating optimal rules for decision making in computer assisted instructional systems in which the computer is used as a decision support tool, an approach that simultaneously optimizes classification of students into two treatments, each followed by a mastery decision, is presented using the framework of Bayesian decision…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation Systems Project focuses on assessing the costs and impacts of managing testing, evaluation, and instructional (T/E/I) systems through a collection of nine papers: (1) "School District Evaluation Offices: Are They Worth the Money?," by Richard C. Williams and Pam McGranahan; (2) "How Two…

The Measurement and Evaluation Center of the University of Texas at Austin conducted a standard-setting study in 1991 to reassess the use of the College Board's Achievement Tests in mathematics, Level I and Level II for course placement and credit by examination in an elementary functions and coordinate geometry course. Students in 20 sections of…

The role that achievement testing plays in the educational system of Trinidad and Tobago and results from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) tests administered in 1989 are discussed (for these tests, students generally sit for five to eight examinations on subjects they have taken throughout their secondary schooling). The educational system…