Validation research for educational achievement tests is often limited to an examination of intended test score interpretations. This article calls for an expansion of validation research in three dimensions. First, validation must attend to actual test use and its consequences, not just score meaning. Second, validation must attend to unintended…

Based on the results of a generalizability study of measures of teacher knowledge for teaching mathematics developed at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles, this article provides evidence that teachers are better at drawing reasonable inferences about student…

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…

This collection of essays focuses on educational testing, showing how testing encroaches on teacher freedom and how narrow standards can actually reduce student achievement. The chapters are: (1) Testing Is Not Teaching; (2) The Freedom Factor; (3) Sharing Power with Intelligent Expectation; (4) Everyone Has a Story To Tell; (5) Lets Change the…

This digest discusses the integration of teaching and testing. The use of tests as instructional tools and administrative tools is discussed as well as teacher and administrator attitudes toward testing and teacher competency in interpreting test results. The term "tests" covers standardized tests of achievement and aptitude, less formal…

A study to investigate attitudes of elementary and secondary school teachers towards testing observed teachers' knowledge, information desired, student acceptance, external constraints, nature and quality of test information, and evaluative uses. Results show that teachers use tests often, have limited testing expertise, and are concerned about…

This book describes how examinations and national assessments can be used to encourage more pedgaogically sound teaching and learning. It provides concrete examples of ways to measure student learning and describes how to develop, score, and interpret tests to ensure that they are valid, reliable, and fair to all children. It offers techniques and…

This paper discusses the use of tests by American teachers over the past six decades. A representative sample of the research centering on the linkage between testing and teaching is cited. (LMO)

Year-long case studies of instructional practices in elementary school mathematics were analyzed to describe testing practices of seven teachers in three school districts in Michigan and the uses those teachers made of test results. Focused on were: (1) curriculum-embedded tests (in particular the Management By Objectives system); (2) the use of…

Some of the deficiencies and abuses associated with past testing practices are reviewed, and some of the present and future possibilities for educational assessment are explored. At this time, assessment and testing in American schools are caught between the rhetoric of reform and the intransigence of long-established practices. Use of measurement…

Reviews the history and uses of standardized testing, and suggests alternative methods of assessment. States the belief that testing exerts undue pressure on children, provides no useful information on individual children, and limits educational possibilities. Discusses the Association for Childhood Education International position paper which…

This handbook is designed to assist teachers, administrators, counselors, and others involved in identifying, assessing, and placing limited English proficient (LEP) students in vocational education programs. The handbook consists of four sections. The first section offers a series of suggested approaches and procedures to use in identifying LEP…