Gives excerpts from a proposal developed at the University of Toronto regarding a testing program and how it might be used in specifying admissions criteria for incoming students. (BP)

Standardized testing is here to stay. Critics are serving a useful purpose in that they force users to examine benefits and the drawbacks. This process has an inevitable spinoff effect since almost every user of standardized tests is involved in a classroom situation where informal testing is ongoing. (Author)

Details the development of item pools, or collections of test exercises, including specifying the domain of content; collecting/writing items; pilot testing; and publishing. Implications of item pools for guidance workers are presented. (BP)

A good testing program handbook is a must for any school system if it expects its testing to be carried out by numerous people in different schools, in a uniform, systematic, and efficient manner. Not only does such a publication add structure, but it demonstrates a professional approach toward educational testing. (Author)

Describes Nova Scotia's testing program, which provides for administrators, supervisors, counselors, and teachers: measurement of student achievement; indications of the extent of program success; diagnosis of student needs; opportunities for improving instructional methods; and indications of the desirability or feasibility of modifying…

Guidance services must be concerned with helping students understand themselves and their environments. Testing cannot be an isolated strategy but a tool that is at the disposal of a counselor to help students cope with the decisions of each developmental stage. (Author)

The author maintains that guidance counselors must make a definite commitment to a complete testing program. He also proposes that special workshops be offered to update counselors on testing programs in the secondary schools. (Author/HMV)

The author describes the testing efforts of Student Services in his school in the light of financial cutbacks, public demand for accountability, student demand for relevance and student apathy toward the counseling center. (Author/HMV)

The provinces of Canada have sole and final legal responsibility for education. For some of them, the task of evaluation may be one they would rather not face, and for others, it may be too expensive. Nevertheless, the responsibility remains theirs. (Author)

Describes testing programs in Canada and suggests cautions to be used in psychological and diagnostic testing. Also discusses the use of standardized tests, computers, test validity and effectiveness, and parent attitudes. The demands of accountability and better management require counselor attention to testing and guidance. (JAC)