Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

A big problem with performance tests and standards is their specificity, or lack of generalizability. "Keeping no secrets" and "teaching to the test" for performance tasks and traditional tests are absolutely necessary if schools are to prepare students adequately to meet performance standards. This nontraditional approach…

Discusses appropriate ways to prepare students for performance assessments and proposes a list of six guidelines for teaching to performance assessments. The focus is on elementary and secondary education. It is believed that these guidelines will help balance the domain and sample problem. (SLD)

Test-taking skills and methods used to prepare students for taking an examination are independent of knowledge and skills in the content area being tested. Test-taking skills do not give students the correct answers, but do allow the student to concentrate on answering questions without being confused by the mechanics of the test. Students who…

The increased use of test scores as a measure of school quality is discussed. Legitimate and illegitimate practices of test preparation are considered. Some commercial test preparation programs are reviewed, with some conclusions about their effectiveness and desirability. (SLD)

This paper responds to an article that criticizes S. A. Cohen's position on the application of instructional alignment to teaching test wiseness. The value and ethics of using certain types of norm-referenced tests are criticized, based on data for the Missouri Mastery Achievement Test. (TJH)

Although standardized testing is increasingly prominent in the United States, the testing industry has not received much attention. The industry and the market for standardized tests are examined, emphasizing the fragmented nature of the market. After an introduction, Chapter 2 describes the testing marketplace, and Chapter 3 reviews evidence on…

Based on findings of previous research, this project developed, implemented, and examined the effect of instructional materials and procedures designed to eliminate the influence on test scores of the following four factors: (1) differential levels of test-taking skills on the part of students; (2) student's lack of familiarity with and consequent…

Teaching to the test has significant undesirable effects. This practice skews scores and invalidates the test, promotes convergent thinking, promotes learning that may be obsolete, excludes the arts and extracurricular activities, promotes didactic instruction over discovery learning, involves only short-term memory, and excludes higher-order…

From a survey of Arizona teachers/administrators and observations in two elementary schools concerning the role of external testing, a typology of teacher orientation toward preparing students to take high-stakes achievement tests is identified. Eight categories of teachers' approaches are contrasted with meanings of test preparation held by other…

Issues in the misuse of standardized test scores are discussed. While information misuse is not a problem unique to testing, it is particularly prevalent. Information can be a source of power, and politically motivated uses of information explain part of the misuse of test scores. Other misuses have historical roots in the exaggerated claims of…

Two previous meta-analyses of the test-coaching literature have yielded conclusions that differ with respect to aptitude test scores. This study attempts to resolve differences in the conclusions of these two analyses by J. A. Kulik, R. L. Bangert-Drowns, and C. L. C. Kulik (1984) and K. Pearlman (1984) by using the methods of F. L. Schmidt and J.…