The "Test Adaptation Reporting Standards" (TARES), or "TARES statement" was developed to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of test adaptation procedures. The TARES contains a short preamble and a checklist, that comprises an evidence-based minimum set of information for reporting in test adaptations. The…

The 2014 "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" describe universal design as an approach that offers promise for improving the fairness of educational assessments. As the field reconsiders questions of fairness in assessments, we propose a new framework that addresses the entire assessment lifecycle: universal design of…

The paper argues that contemporary test validity theory places the consequences of testing on the lives of all college applicants at the back of the test validation argument. It introduces the notion of test efficacy as a process to gather evidence on claims on consequences of testing on all college applicants that can be traced back to validity.…

COVID-19 is disrupting assessment practices and accelerating changes. With special focus on K-12 and credentialing exams, this article describes the series of changes observed during the pandemic, the solutions assessment providers have implemented, and the long-term impact on future practices. Additionally, this article highlights the importance…

By design, randomized experiments (XPs) rule out bias from confounded selection of participants into conditions. Quasi-experiments (QEs) are often considered second-best because they do not share this benefit. However, when results from XPs are used to generalize causal impacts, the benefit from unconfounded selection into conditions may be offset…

Despite the substantial expansion in vocabulary research since the 1980s, we still know very little about how vocabulary develops over time and what factors influence this development. This methodological overview discusses key issues and considerations in vocabulary breadth growth assessment to help advance research in this area. The report…

Reading, writing, and mathematics are widely regarded as foundational academic skills upon which many other academic skills depend. Consequently, each receives a considerable allocation of resources for instruction, assessment, and intervention in K-12 education (Hooper, 2002). An additional indicator of the importance of these skills is the…

This study suggests a conceptual framework for policy-driven test development and validation, using the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) as an example context. By linking the literature on policy analysis and argument structure in the validation of testing, the strong relationships between policy and testing are illustrated. This rationalizes…

Language tests, including international high-stakes English proficiency tests widely used around the world, are to be viewed as ideological constructs connected with power relations and center-periphery demarcations at different social levels. In this paper, we examine the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as an instance of…

Beginning with the 2020/21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) began an ongoing effort to collect and analyze literacy screening assessment data from schools and districts participating in certain state grants to inform improvement efforts. Grantee schools and districts that provide literacy…

Since its implementation in 2004, the Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses (CELBAN) has been accepted as evidence of language ability for licensure of internationally educated nurses (IENs) in Canada. This article focuses on the complexities of sustaining an occupation-specific assessment over time. The authors reference the…

Over the past several years, content experts, psychometricians, and researchers have been hard at work developing, refining, and studying the digital SAT. The work is grounded in foundational best practices and advances in measurement and assessment design, with fairness for students informing all of the work done. This paper shares learnings from…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an integral measure of academic progress over time. It is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what our nation's students know and can do in various subjects such as civics, mathematics, reading, science, technology and engineering literacy, U.S. history, and…