The concept of consequential validity wrongly links the idea of the consequences of test use with the idea of validity, widely held to be rooted in the accuracy of inferences drawn from examinees' test performances. The reification of consequential validity can distract from a needed clarity about test use consequences. (SLD)

The reviewed book analyzes many facets of the testing enterprise from a sociocultural perspective, emphasizing the power motive of test givers. Part I on Authenticity Tests discusses the practice of using tests to determine innocence, guilt, and honesty with regard to culturally important behaviors. Part II addresses the use of ability tests for…

Describes educational assessment in Singapore and discusses changes planned to focus assessment on more real-life situations while taking into account research on learning and critical thinking. (SLD)

Guidelines for test developers and users are provided to insure that construction and selection of test instruments are conducted fairly. In addition to development and selection, issues of interpretation of scores; provision of information to test takers; and prevention of test bias based on race, gender, or ethnicity are addressed. Twenty-one…

The Subcommittee on Truth in Testing of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was formed in response to Senate Resolution 43 of the 1982 Kentucky General Assembly. Its task was to study the questions regarding the effectiveness and equity of standardized testing, which has become an important part of the academic experience of public school…

Five papers given at a conference on the role of testing in the teaching profession are presented. The conference partners included the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Educational Testing Service, Center for Fair and Open Testing, and National Education Association. The following issues are discussed: appropriate uses of…

This reply to William A. Mehrens argues that although some psychometricians are reluctant to endorse the use of test data for educational decision making, it is desirable that measurement specialists provide decision makers with practical, understandable ways to use test data. (JAZ)

Describes how the Allentown, Pennsylvania, public school district uses district-wide final examinations (along with some class-specific test items designed by teachers) to assess secondary school programs, provide "feedback" to teachers, and evaluate student mastery of learning objectives. (MCG)

This Brief builds on the work of the National Association of State Boards of Education 1997 Study Group on State Assessment Systems by examining one of the state board actions that is most likely to capture the publics attention: setting cut scores on state assessments. This process involves a large measure of human judgment and politics and a…

In 1999, the LegiSchool Project planned to conduct the 12th in its series of televised Town Hall Meetings to provide a forum in which California high school students, educators, and legislators can engage in face-to-face dialogue about problems of mutual interest. For 1999, the topic is standards and tests in California high schools. This guide…

This paper considers the size of the marketplace for education testing. The discussion is focused on commercial standardized achievement tests produced for the elementary and secondary market, the "Elhi" market. A few testing companies now account for the bulk of the test sales in the Elhi market, but it is difficult to obtain exact…

A number of major studies are discussed concerning the effects of testing on schools and needed changes in test use to improve education. Test use is analyzed at building and classroom levels for insights on better education, and at local, state, and national levels for oversights of educational progress. (Author/CM)

A structure for describing different approaches to testing is generated by identifying five dimensions along which tests differ: test uses, item generation, item revision, assessment of precision, and validation. These dimensions are used to profile tests of reading comprehension. Only norm-referenced achievement tests had an inference system…

Criticizes an article by Messick (1989) that emphasizes consequential validity (the potential and actual social consequences of test score interpretation and use) as a component of construct validity. Shows the profitability of separating the construct-indicator link from the indicator-score link, and the greater importance of the former.…

Presents examples of how standardized testing recognizes, constrains, or dismisses the multifaceted aspects of identities children bring to classrooms and influences the identities of teachers and psychologists whose actions are constrained by a culture that reproduces itself. Challenges readers to take up new models of assessment that not only…