Concentrates on three questions: Who are the current critics of standardized testing? What are their persistent criticisms and concerns? Which of these criticisms appear to be valid, which have some validity, and which appear to be irrational? (Author/IRT)

Instructional improvement within the context of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests is described. Such categories overemphasize test interpretation rather than design characteristics of achievement tests. Data from most measurement situations may be reported or interpreted either according to criterion- or norm-referenced standards. How…

This paper summarizes some of the issues involved in educational testing. First, it describes four of the fundamental characteristics of tests: whether they are measures of aptitude or achievement, whether they require students to produce or just recognize the best answer, whether they are interpreted in relationship to the scores of other…