In this chapter, the authors take a broad perspective on how to analyze issues of technology and equity for youth in the United States. They begin with "access" as a starting point, but consider not only whether diverse groups of youth have digital media available to them but also how that access is supported or constrained by…

Background/Context: This is the first research study to examine the content basis of Payne's in-service teacher education program, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, though others who have reviewed the book have agreed with our analysis. The study took place within a policy context in which the federal government, with the passage of the No…

Some of the challenges that test publishers face in constructing educational assessments that meet high technical quality as prescribed in the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" (AERA, APA, NCME, 1999) are examined. Federal educational initiatives are used to illustrate demands on technical quality that challenge the efforts of…

The purpose of this article is to present a working definition of the term "culture," as well as to describe and demonstrate a comprehensive framework for evaluating hypotheses about cultural bias in educational testing. The framework is demonstrated using 5th-grade reading and language arts data from the Terra Nova test (CTB/McGraw-Hill, 1999).…

With the proliferation of computers in test delivery today, adaptive testing has become quite popular, especially when examinees must be classified into two categories (passfail, master nonmaster). Several well-established organisations have provided standards and guidelines for the design and evaluation of educational and psychological testing.…

Assessing school quality can be a difficult task. This audiotape produced by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) was designed to help listeners make sense of the process. The audiotape takes listeners on a guided tour of a typical middle and elementary school. The tour is conducted by a group of experienced educators, who…

A study of undergraduate student attitudes toward student evaluation at the University of Melbourne, Australia, focused on purposes and form of assessment, relationship between attitudes and subject field, and between objections and poor academic performance. Findings showed students believe assessment should be more flexible and cover a larger…

A test of the concept of horizontality was devised to examine the performance of a sample of 861 Australian school children in grades 1 to 6 tested in their classrooms. (Editor)

In 1983-84, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges developed and field tested an instrument, the General Academic Assessment (GAA) student survey, to assess community college students' knowledge in several liberal arts areas, including the humanities. The GAA was completed by a sample of 8,024 students at four large, urban community…

Guidelines for test developers and users are provided to insure that construction and selection of test instruments are conducted fairly. In addition to development and selection, issues of interpretation of scores; provision of information to test takers; and prevention of test bias based on race, gender, or ethnicity are addressed. Twenty-one…

The Subcommittee on Truth in Testing of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was formed in response to Senate Resolution 43 of the 1982 Kentucky General Assembly. Its task was to study the questions regarding the effectiveness and equity of standardized testing, which has become an important part of the academic experience of public school…

This report discusses five issue areas in which it is believed substantial improvements in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) might be achieved. The unifying themes among these issues are to increase the visibility of NAEP, its relevance to policymakers, and its utility to state and local agencies. The first of five substantive…

Five papers given at a conference on the role of testing in the teaching profession are presented. The conference partners included the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Educational Testing Service, Center for Fair and Open Testing, and National Education Association. The following issues are discussed: appropriate uses of…

Developed as a guide to resources in the Robert E. Kennedy Library at California Polytechnic State University, this bibliography includes a selective listing of books, microfiche, and reference materials on the topic of educational and psychological testing. The publications included either contain sample or entire test items, and…

This article focused on societal reaction to deviance, definers rather than the defined, on the presupposition that because the deviant is one so labelled, by studying the definers one is also indirectly studying the nature of the defined. (Author/RK)