This qualitative phenomenological study explores the experiences of parents of children with special needs in Turkey, specifically their encounters with Guidance and Research Centers (GRCs) during the process of obtaining educational assessment reports. Through semi-structured interviews with 25 parents, the study reveals complex emotions and…

Across the country, education leaders are adding their voices to the call to address the issue of overtesting in schools. To assist districts in ensuring they have a coherent assessment strategy in place and only administer tests that are useful and of high quality, Achieve developed the "Student Assessment Inventory for School…

Any examination that involves moderate to high stakes implications for examinees should be psychometrically sound and legally defensible. Currently, there are two broad and competing families of test theories that are used to score examination data. The majority of instructors outside the high-stakes testing arena rely on classical test theory…

This paper explores how mandated literacy assessment is reorganising teachers' work in the context of Australia's National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy, which was implemented in 2008. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are tested annually, with school results publicly available. The wider policy context and the emergence of different…

The test review process used by the Buros Center for Testing is described as a series of 11 steps: (1) identifying tests to be reviewed, (2) obtaining tests and preparing test descriptions, (3) determining whether tests meet review criteria, (4) identifying appropriate reviewers, (5) selecting reviewers, (6) sending instructions and materials to…

This article sets the stage for the description of a variety of approaches to test reviewing worldwide. It describes the importance of test reviewing as a protection of the public and of society and also the benefits of this activity for test users, who must choose measures to use in particular situations with particular clients at a particular…

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of scale drift on a test that employs cut scores. It was essential to examine scale drift for this testing program because new forms in this testing program are often put on scale through a series of intermediate equatings (known as equating chains). This process may cause equating error to…

What is the best use for tests? Testing should provide insight and information to educators and students. The primary purpose of testing is to inform teaching and learning. Yet, for too many schools, testing has been perverted to accommodate only measurement. Lesson plans are built around helping students pass the tests. In many instances, schools…

Many of us have an intuitive understanding of physics that works surprisingly well to guide everyday action, but we would not attempt to send a rocket to the moon with it. Unfortunately, the authors argue, our policy makers are not as cautious when it comes to basing our school accountability system on intuitive test theory. Intuitive physics…

"Testing for Justice Rationale" calls for schools to meet the needs of all children. The needs of children can be determined by comparing what children can do with what they can learn to do. Any discrepancy between achievement and potential indicates a need and it is only through adequate testing that these needs can be determined. This…

Time spent in contact with academic course materials as a function of two testing schedules was measured using college undergraduates in an introductory Educational Psychology course. A multi-manipulation single organism design was employed with all subjects enabling both individual and group analysis. A study room equipped with an adjacent…

In the development of assessment for elementary students, little attention has been paid to the information exchange between student and tester. Analysis of the learning exchange requires developmental, diagnostic, and process information. Cybernetic assessment, a departure from standard testing techniques, involves the examiner in the information…

This paper presents two examples of how methodological research in testing and evaluation simultaneously served the needs of both researchers and practitioners. The first example focuses on Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) research in writing assessment. This research investigated issues in domain definition, cognitive processing…

This bulletin describes two phases of an experiment in examining science, one in 1963, and the second in 1964. The first phase of the experiment explored two forms of assessment: a Scientific Thinking paper; and a Practical paper. In the second phase two further factors were introduced: a Facts and Principles paper; and an Assessment of course…

This book has been written for state board of education members and other citizens interested in public education. It is, in a sense, a primer in matters relating to learning, testing, assessment, and evaluation. Presented are some philosophical and political considerations in statewide educational evaluation. Learning is defined and the types and…