Following opening remarks by Joseph L. Dionne, four sections of papers are presented. In part I--Testing and the Basic Skills--P. Michael Timpane and Judith Shoemaker discuss federal activities, Edwin L. West, Jr. discusses the coordination of teaching and testing, and Amelia Ashe describes testing and teaching of writing competency. Part…

Criticism of standardized tests is extensive, and a number of claims of test misuse have been made. Test misuse is discussed in six common circumstances. (1) Test users accept the title of a test as an accurate and complete description of the variable being measured, not having full knowledge of the test, its items, and the test manual. A…

This review covers a time span from 1922 to 1980. It examines the link that exists between assessment and teaching. After discussing the milieu in which the two take place, the remainder of the review addresses four questions: (1) how do teachers use test information for instructional decisions?; (2) what has research indicated about the linkage…