Discusses issues of validity in high-stakes testing, beginning with some purposes of a testing program and proceeding to some underlying assumptions about testing. Suggests four possible studies to address assumptions often ignored by asking various groups of people about testing. (SLD)

Discusses the direction large-scale educational testing is heading, pointing out pitfalls in current and future use of such tests. The large-scale assessment community seems to be unconcerned about the central mission of education, the instruction of children. (SLD)

Explores how social, legal, and demographic forces threaten to dethrone the most widely used college entrance exam. New criticism focuses on the use of what is essentially an IQ test to measure students' ability to learn. (EV)

A critical, but often neglected, component of any large-scale assessment program is the reporting of test results. In the past decade, a body of evidence has been compiled that raises concerns over the ways in which these results are reported to and understood by their intended audiences. In this study, current approaches for reporting…

A historical perspective on high-stakes testing suggests that tests required for high school graduation will have mixed results for the putative value of high school diplomas. Graduation requirements are not likely to settle the general cultural confusion in the United States about the purpose of secondary education or a high school diploma. (SLD)

The fields of language testing and educational and psychological measurement have not, as yet, developed a set of principles and procedures for linking test scores and score-based inferences to test use and the consequences of test use. Although Messick (1989) discusses test use and consequences, his framework provides virtually no guidance on how…

Within the context of standards-based educational systems, states are using large scale reading assessments to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn essential knowledge and skills. The challenge for developers of accessible reading assessments is to develop assessments that measure only those student characteristics that are…

The current study examines the views of experts in the science of mental abilities about the primacy and uniqueness of "g" and the social implications of ability testing, and compares their responses to the views of a group of non-expert psychologists. Results indicate expert consensus that "g" is an important, non-trivial determinant (or at least…

This paper presents a method for estimating the accuracy and consistency of classifications based on test scores. The scores can be produced by any scoring method, including the formation of a weighted composite. The estimates use data from a single form. The reliability of the score is used to estimate its effective test length in terms of…

A number of explanations have been offered for the differences in test performance among various population subgroups. This paper begins with a discussion of these explanations including the psychometric explanation that group differences are due to bias in the test. An overview of bias research argues that results to date are inconclusive. A…

The relevance of assessing attention or concentration skills for personnel selection is discussed, and how a person's interpersonal characteristics are influenced by and influence attentional skills is explored. Scales in the Theory Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) inventory developed by Robert Nideffer are described. The interaction of…

Statistical significance tests (SSTs) have been the object of much controversy among social scientists. Proponents have hailed SSTs as an objective means for minimizing the likelihood that chance factors have contributed to research results. Critics have both questioned the logic underlying SSTs and bemoaned the widespread misapplication and…

Four studies examined the validity of the "Living Word Vocabulary" (LWV), a corpus of approximately 44,000 alphabetized words with multiple meanings tested at different grade levels. Regressions were performed between the grade level p-values (percentages of students responding correctly to a vocabulary test item) reported by LWV and…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how graphical analyses can enhance the interpretation and understanding of multidimensional item-response theory (IRT) analyses. Conceptually many of the unidimensional IRT concepts such as item characteristic curves, information, etc., can be extended to multiple dimensions. However, as the…

This annotated bibliography (1933-1982) lists currently available instruments that might be used with Spanish-speaking individuals. The bibliographic information, obtained from the holdings of the Educational Testing Service Test Collection, is not limited to any specific type of test. Thus, measures of achievement, aptitude, and attitude, etc.,…