Confusion in the terminology used in criterion-referenced measurement specifications and development and standard setting and the attendant role of cut-off scores are shown to need practical clarification through psychometric research on test applications and consequences. (CM)

The Committee on Ability Testing's report (see ED 213 770 and ED 213 771) is shown to give primacy to employment productivity and efficiency values, creating an institutional bias in their analysis of testing. The importance of a balance of alternative multiple perspectives to broaden testing criteria, standards, fairness, and social values served…

Tests are used in hopes that disclosure of accomplishments will be made, but teachers sometimes feel they are being penalized for giving consideration to the whole child's development instead of concentrating on drill that would result in higher test scores. Standardized tests cause apprehension about control of student placement and instruction.…

In situations where there are enormous pressures to produce "good" test results, standardized testing can be a very painful experience, but there are ways of using test data to help in the educational process. California assessment data are disseminated widely to school districts in meaningful diagnostic displays. (Author/CM)

Parents have needs, rights, interests, and responsibilities to know how standardized tests are used in the schools and to call attention to inaccurate test results; to judge the quality of education reflected by tests; and to have information to understand tests to help assess their children's abilities and achievement. (Author/CM)

New Jersey Education Association policy regarding testing is presented. The policy recognizes the need of teachers, students, parents, and other decision-makers for continuous and comprehensive evaluation and diagnosis of student progress, but opposes the use of tests for denying opportunities, allocating school funds, evaluating teachers or…

Addresses trends in test development and interpretation over the past 10 years and explores test and inventory usage in counseling centers in three articles. Reactions, in two articles, address specific issues raised and overall trends. (RC)

The Involvement in Subject Learning Scale (ISLS) was developed and validated as an educational outcome measure to be used in assessing higher education quality. The origins and development of the scale, its factor analysis, potential applications, limitations, and pilot use in France and Quebec (Canada) are described. The instrument is appended.…

A series of studies by the Technical Review Panel (TRP) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to improve the quality and utility of the NAEP is introduced, with a description of the NAEP, the creation of the TRP, the education policy issues that influenced the selection of research topics, and the relationship among the…

The applicability of a Chinese translation of the Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) (H. W. Marsh, 1982 and later) and the generality of findings based on North American research were studied with 844 students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Results support the use of the SEEQ in this Chinese setting. (SLD)

Two meta-analyses, one with 27,973 subjects in 31 studies and one with 34,262 subjects in 141 studies, found that tests of short-term memory are valid predictors of job and training performance and that racial differences are smaller than is usual on cognitive tests. (SLD)

Proposed an accountably model that addresses the challenges of allowing school districts to choose the specific strategies they use to measure student performance and evaluated this model using data from multiple sources for all school districts in Florida. Findings identify three strategies that would be useful for this type of accountability…

Discusses problems inherent in testing translation students and emphasizes that the test of a translation student will depend primarily on the aim of the course concerned, e.g. tests of students in metalinguistic-awareness-oriented courses will focus on items attesting to metalinguistic knowledge rather than a mere competence in the languages per…

This study is fourth in a series demonstrating that achievement tests are multidimensional and that using subscores from national surveys can enhance test validity and usefulness. It extends the analyses of science achievement data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88) through grade 12. (SLD)

Proposed a framework of possible differences between grades and test scores and tested the framework with data on 8,454 high school seniors from the National Education Longitudinal Study. Identified differences and correlations among achievement factors. Differences between grades and tests give these measures complementary strengths in…