This paper is an historical and critical evaluation of the view that test interpretations can be based on constructs, as constructs are currently conceptualized. The nomological network reconstruction of scientific theorizing is discussed. (MT)

This paper is a polemical discussion of assessment in teacher education. Working from the proposition that assessment serves a number of important purposes for a range of stakeholders (students, employers, quality assurance agencies, government), it argues that there is considerable potential for conflict between the different purposes. In an age…

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC), a private, nonprofit association, has outlined high standards for educator professional learning. One demonstration of NSDC's commitment to the goal of ensuring all schools support and use high standards for professional learning is the organization's investment in developing an instrument to assess…

The measurement of Hispanics in the 2000 U.S. Census significantly skews the racial identification of the Hispanic population in America. The literature on racial and ethnic identification, however, lacks serious engagement with the social psychology of self-identification. We draw on social identity theory to demonstrate how the process of…

The purpose of this article is to outline four categories of issues that are fundamental to understanding the efficacy of technology for enhancing reading performance. The four categories of issues include: (1) What does it mean when we say a person is a reader or a nonreader?; (2) Instructional methods: Lessons of the achievement gap; (3)…

This chapter discusses the Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U's) Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) project, which aims to demonstrate that faculty across the country share fundamental expectations about student learning on all of the essential learning outcomes deemed critical for student…

Tests and measurement have fallen short of the contributions to counseling expected of them. The writer takes the position that inadequacies of both the tests and counselors are responsible and that major changes are needed if tests are to continue to have a place in the counseling process. (Author)

Argues that superintendents and boards must anticipate specific concrete and measurable instructional objectives before introducing changes. (JF)

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funds schools located on 63 reservations in 23 states across the nation. Of the 183 schools, 59 are Bureau operated and 124 are tribally controlled. One-hundred and sixteen schools provide instructional programs, 55 provide instructional as well as boarding services and 12 peripheral dormitories provide only…

Governmental and accrediting entities are demanding increased accountability and efficiency from colleges and universities. This chapter discusses strategies for developing institutional data sets that create a "culture of evidence." (Contains 5 figures.)

THE RELEVANCE OF INTELLIGENCE TESTS FOR EDUCATIONAL USES IS CHALLENGED ON TWO GROUNDS--(1) TESTS WHICH MERELY PREDICT THE LIKELIHOOD OF FUTURE SUCCESS DO NOT PROVIDE USEFUL INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO PRESCRIBE TREATMENTS TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE, AND (2) INTELLIGENCE IS NOT DEFINED AND HENCE THE INTERPRETATION OF SCORES IS MISLEADING. IT IS…

Sources of confusion about the distinction between process and product measurement are identified, and the effect of the distinction on evaluation quality is shown. Process measurement involves the measure of behavior, performance of a task which generates no products, an independent variable or treatment, use in diagnosing performance, and means.…

Research on change processes is needed to help explain how psychotherapy produces change. To explain processes of change, it is important to measure three types of outcomes and three levels of process. Emphasis will need to be placed on specifying different types of in-session change episodes and the intermediate outcomes they produce. (Author/BL)