In order to construct and evaluate the validity argument for the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS), based on Kane's framework, we conducted a systematic review. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, and selected reference lists through February 2013. Working in duplicate, we selected…

The articles in this issue, written from the perspectives of academics, practitioners, and publishers, show that examining the consequences of assessment is an important, large, and difficult task. Collaborative action by assessment developers, users, and the educational measurement community is needed if progress is to be made. (SLD)

One of several papers commissioned by the National Institute of Education (NIE), this discussion addresses the utility of test-equating studies for large-scale program evaluation and investigates the use of standardized tests in similar evaluation efforts. The discussion begins with an examination of the question, Should standardized achievement…

A review of 61 interventions to reduce the rate of medical diagnostic testing reveals that many approaches were successful; the mean reduction observed was 22%. Interventions based on analysis of needs and concerns about negative side effects tended to be more effective. (SLD)

Given the wide individual differences among any group of students and since measurements are always accompanied by errors, the question of how tests should be used in assessing the quality of an educational program is considered. The ways in which educators have dealt with this problem are reviewed, from the systematic examinations of the question…

The Learner Report (LR) (A. D. De Groot, 1974) is an instrument to identify educational objectives that resist obvious measurement. An overview is presented of studies using the LR and problems and solutions found in the literature and identified in a survey of 16 Dutch LR users. (SLD)

Although a large number of adults in the United States are assumed to need literacy training, little agreement exists on that number. Adults who attend literacy instruction are assumed to acquire the skills, but little is known about program effectiveness. Another assumption is that adults should define their goals, but this does not ensure that…

The Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) are intended to measure use of nonviolent discipline, psychological aggression, and physical assault in parent-child and other family relationships. The latter two scales provide a basis for identifying psychological and physical maltreatment. Two revisions of the CTS became available in 1996. One, the CTS2 is…