Standardizing aspects of assessments has long been recognized as a tactic to help make evaluations of examinees fair. It reduces variation in irrelevant aspects of testing procedures that could advantage some examinees and disadvantage others. However, recent attention to making assessment accessible to a more diverse population of students…

In conjunction with testing mandates, some states have developed new measures intended to reflect changes in thinking about reading. Discusses, in dialogue form, whether these new measures support educational improvement or limit them. (BJV)

Provides information on statistical data and jargon so that English department members can more confidently and responsibly identify the inevitable weaknesses and limitations of both tests of writing ability and the research on them. (RL)

Discusses the pros and cons of using computer software to prepare for college entrance examinations. Provides information on eight programs designed for that purpose. (TW)

Because testing, in many different forms, currently plays such an important role in education, Elementary Secondary Education Act, Title I, the Division of Federal Assistance in the Vermont State Department of Education, prepared this brochure to present a general introduction to terms and phrases commonly used in testing and to highlight some of…

This study evaluates the effects of employing the linear, normalizing, and arcsine transformation methods for constructing scale scores on the Basic Competence Test (BCTEST). Tests in three subject areas (Chinese, English, and Mathematics) were studied using the data of test administrations from 2001 to 2003. The resulting scale scores for each…