The paper reports on trends in language testing taking place over the years and aim at critical perspectives of testing and promoting inclusion, equity and justice. It begins with critical theories by Messick, Foucault and Bourdieu, leading to critical language testing (CLT) which focused on consequences and uses of tests. Given the power of tests…

This article describes a study, from a Canadian technical institute's upgrading mathematics course, where students played a role in developing the final closed-book exam that they sat. The study involved a process where students developed practice exams and solutions keys, students sat each other's practice exams, students evaluated classmates'…

One consequence of test use in the English-language teaching community is the negative washback of tests on teaching and learning. Test preparation courses are often seen as part of the more general issue of washback. IELTS and TOEFL iBT tests, focusing on communicative competence, are anticipated to have positive washback effect on how English is…

Compares instructions for taking a ninth-grade achievement test to the reality of the conditions in which the test was actually taken. (NKA)

Sixty-three preservice teachers were asked to respond to the idea of cheating while administering a standardized test to their students. Over half said they would cheat under certain conditions, such as benefit to the students or if the test was inappropriate. Cheating considered acceptable included giving hints, rewording items, and teaching to…

The research literature on oral achievement testing is reviewed, and advantages and disadvantages of oral tests are described. A number of suggestions are made for improving the objectivity, reliability, and validity of oral tests. The results of a survey of the attitudes and experiences of a selected sample of college students with regard to…

A study was conducted at Messiah College, a religiously affiliated liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, to identify classes that had excellent evaluation procedures. Standardized student ratings of classroom testing were drawn from the Instructional Development and Effectiveness Assessment (IDEA), which includes an item on "preparing…

High-stakes assessments are those in which the results of tests or other measures can lead to decisions that may affect school administrators, teachers, and students substantially. Whether high-stakes assessment results in misleading information due to extraneous factors associated with the conditions under which the assessment occurs is explored.…

A student perceptions measure of college and university classroom learning environment was developed to reflect the dynamic interplay among contextual variables and accommodates theoretical and practical applications in light of logistical concerns found in such complicated educational settings as a medical school. The 18-item Teaching and…

Standardized test scores are used to determine outcomes at national, state, and local school district levels; and teachers feel pressure to raise their students' scores on high stakes tests. This study evaluated score enhancing strategies most likely used by student teachers and their perceptions about the degree of appropriateness of these…

This study assessed whether the Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS) can distinguish groups of teacher education students relative to their propensity toward various forms of misconduct. Focus was on identifying clusters of persons within each school who had a propensity toward the various academic misconduct constructs. The AMS includes 41…

This report describes a project to develop more effective types of assessment in high school classes. The targeted population was high school students in two different middle-class communities in the northern suburbs of Chicago (Illinois). One site in a very stable, homogeneous community, predominantly white, contains 1,155 students. The other…

The impact of large-scale testing on curriculum policies at district and school levels and on science teaching at the classroom level was studied for British Columbia (Canada). Other factors affecting teaching practices were considered. In 1983, the Province reintroduced centrally set and graded province-wide examinations for grade 12, following a…

Since the mid-1960s, the use of objective testing in education, and multiple-choice tests in particular, has increased dramatically in the Netherlands. Since the founding of the Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement in 1968, the construction of many achievement tests has been concentrated there. This general changeover from…

Since the mid-1970s, at least 20 states have instituted standardized tests that must be passed before students can receive a high school diploma. This paper draws on data collected in four states to explore some of the lasting effects of competency test legislation. Of particular interest is student awareness of these tests. A survey of 733…