Reviews and critiques the British system of public examinations. (AA)

A formula for converting raw test scores to refined, more meaningful scores is presented. Formula scores are easily computed. (SD)

The president of the Educational Testing Service gives a history and an overview of the organization. (IRT)

Identifies general and specific skills for taking tests. Contends that students who use effective general test-taking skills improve their performance on standardized tests. (JDH)

Item response theory (IRT) is having a major impact on the field of testing. This special issue presents an introduction and seven papers concerning developments in IRT applications. Some important IRT research being conducted outside the United States is highlighted. (SLD)

Instructional alignment is the extent to which stimulus conditions match three instructional components. This paper demonstrates a new perspective in which instructional alignment generates larger effects in research and practice for less "cost" than other instructional constructs. (VM)

Reviews a dozen basic questions about passing scores on state-mandated competency testing programs for students, teachers, administrators, and other education personnel. Condemns the "cardiac" approach (or traditonal 80 percent standard) in favor of procedures that systematically incorporate judgment with a variety of performance data.…

Interviewed testing coordinators in 20 New Jersey public schools to identify and describe current practices and problems in testing program content, planning, and participation; test selection and scheduling; preparation of test administrators and test takers; and test scoring, recording, and reporting. (JAC)

Ethical considerations in use of computers in psychological testing and assessment are discussed. Existing ethics and standards that provide guidance to users of computerized test interpretation and report-writing programs are discussed and guidelines are suggested. Areas of appropriate use of computers in testing and assessment are explored.…

Learning disabled and mentally retarded elementary and secondary students (N=343) exhibited significant differences on scores of three tests designed to measure the same area of achievement. Results suggested that specific abilities of pupils interact with aspects of the test items. (CL)

This paper provides a list of 10 salient features of the standard error of measurement, contrasting it to the reliability coefficient. It is concluded that the standard error of measurement should be regarded as a primary characteristic of a mental test. (Author/DWH)

Because test scores are ordinal not cordinal attributes, the average test score often is a misleading way to summarize the scores of a group of individuals. Similarly, correlation coefficients may be misleading summary measures of association between test scores. Proper, readily interpretable, summary statistics are developed from a theory of…

The authors provide information about test construction and testing practices in order to help parents and teachers to ask important and critical questions about them. Issues pertinent to the appropriate selection, use, and interpretation of tests are presented. (Author/CL)

This article discusses the psychological theories and concepts of Alfred Binet and how they have been misused in modern school psychology. (DMT)

It is sometimes assumed that students (a) know which questions they will be best at answering in an examination, and (b) know how well they have performed after completing an examination. These hypotheses were tested for 50 dental students who completed a six-question essay examination in Human Physiology and Pharmacology. (Editor/RK)