Language testing has witnessed three major trends in the 1990s: theoretical, methodological, and analytical. Theoretically, emphasis has been placed on the further understanding of the construct of language proficiency. Methodologically, there has been an outburst of interest in language performance testing and the promotion of the professional…

In the United States, students have historically taken large-scale assessments for many different purposes. One purpose that is shared with many other countries is a desire to monitor aggregate trends in educational attainment in core subject domains such as literacy, mathematics, and science. In this commentary, the author examines testing,…

The proper use of psychological tests requires that the measurement instruments have adequate psychometric properties, such as reliability and validity, and that the professionals who use the instruments have the necessary expertise. In this article, we present the first review of tests published in Spain, carried out with an assessment model…

The intervention validity of cognitive assessment batteries is considered within an historical context to identify what the evidence supports (knowns), what cannot be known (unknowables), and what is not yet known (unknowns). Two ways cognitive batteries could inform intervention are identified: a disordinal (i.e., aptitude-treatment interaction)…

Paul Newton (2010), with his characteristic concern about theory, has set out two different ways of thinking about the basis upon which equivalences of one sort or another are established between test score scales. His reason for doing this is a desire to establish "the defensibility of linkages lower on the continuum than concordance."…

This article presents the author's rejoinder to thinking about linking from issue 8(1). Particularly within the more embracing linking frameworks, e.g., Holland & Dorans (2006) and Holland (2007), there appears to be a major disjunction between (1) classification discourse: the supposed basis for classification, that is, the underlying theory…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

Newton's article (2010) makes three main contributions to the literature. First, it is transatlantic, bringing together literatures that have been dealing with similar problems, using sometimes different methods and certainly with distinctive educational, cultural perspectives. He points out that neither of these literatures has all of the…

The article "Thinking About Linking" by Newton (2010) presents a novel philosophical perspective on the way that educational assessments should be linked. Newton starts by describing the linking framework as it was characterized in various publications and identifies a cross-cultural dimension in the definitions and uses of test…

This report describes the purposes of benchmark assessments and provides recommendations for selecting and using benchmark assessments--addressing validity, alignment, reliability, fairness and bias and accessibility, instructional sensitivity, utility, and reporting issues. We also present recommendations on building capacity to support schools'…

Educational assessment and, more broadly, educational research in the United States have entered into an era characterized by a dramatic increase in the prevalence and importance of test score use in accountability systems. This volume covers a selection of contemporary issues about testing science and practice that impact the nation's public…

Standard setting is a fairly widespread activity in educational and psychological measurement, but there is no formal psychometric theory to guide the development of standard setting methodology. This paper presents a conceptual framework for such a psychometric theory and uses the conceptual framework to analyze a number of methods for setting…

This paper traces the origins of the portfolio movement, examines the treatment of portfolios in texts and other writings on classroom assessment, and poses several questions about the use of portfolios in classrooms. Interest in portfolios as assessment devices first emerged in the literature in the field of composition and writing, but interest…

Diagnostic assessment combining cognitive science and psychometrics, cognitively diagnostic assessment (CDA), is characterized in terms of the intended use of the assessment and methods of developing and evaluating assessments. Societal trends motivating the development of CDA and efforts to develop a five-step methodology for CDA are outlined.…

The usefulness of traditional concepts of validity and reliability, developed for large-scale assessments, for the classroom context is explored. Alternate frameworks that situate these constructs in teachers' work in classrooms are presented, and their use in an assessment course for preservice teachers is described. (SLD)