The paper examines the issue of whether the concepts and practices of standardized testing, on the one hand, and the pursuit and attainment of equal opportunity, on the other, are compatible. The author cites a number of areas where tension and conflict have centered; however, he feels that there is no necessary incompatibility between the…

The migrant lifestyle, in which a student moves to a new school nearly three times per year, destroys the continuity of educational programs and contributes to abnormally high dropout rates. Educational testing can help improve educational continuity for migrant students by yielding valuable information about their levels of skills mastery so they…

Six current issues in the use of tests are examined in this paper. Are the tests used in education valid? In general and to a reasonably satisfactory extent they are. Is the emphasis these tests place on cognitive achievements a serious limitation? Because of the basic and pervasive role of cognition in human affairs, and in the absence of any…

This book addresses some of the important considerations surrounding the use of tests and assessment procedures when applied to students who are culturally, linguistically, and/or socioeconomically different from mainstream North Americans. Chapter 1 introduces the problems of using standards based on a white Anglo-Saxon perspective to assess and…

Criterion-referenced testing (CRT) is defined as a method of ascertaining an individual's status with respect to some performance standard. Computer-assisted testing (CAT) is a method of constructing tests using a variety of computer techniques such as a single test computer printouts, stored item banks, teacher specified criteria, machine…

The volume of test-norms and expectancy tables is intended as a tool for counselors in counseling individuals. The work contains a chapter on test interpretation to assist the counselor in relating individual test scores to other information about the individual. In the Minnesota Norms section of the tables, there are no data at the elementary…

Intended both to evaluate the California testing program's success in assessing student achievement in the basic skills and to suggest possible improvements in the program, this report includes an executive summary evaluating current testing procedures, describing experimental studies on new ways of testing and reporting testing information, and…