Reliability and validity are two important topics that have been studied for many decades in the educational measurement field, including discussions of Writing Studies' subfield of writing assessment, since the establishment of the College Entrance Exam Board [CEEB] in 1899 (Huot et al., 2010). In recent years, scholarly conversations of fairness…

Despite the increasing discussions on quality and professionalism in the field of language assessment, limited empirical research is currently available on whether language testing practice conforms to the best practice model prescribed in professional standards. Situated in the context of Chinese higher education, this study examined how English…

States and districts have expressed interest in administering the ACT® to 10th-grade students. Given that the ACT was designed to be administered in the spring of 11th grade or fall of 12th grade, the appropriateness of this use should be evaluated. As such, the focus of this paper is to summarize empirical evidence evaluating the use of the ACT…

This test review aims to provide a critical evaluation of the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA 21), a large-scale, standards-based English language proficiency testcurrently used in eight participating member states. The ELPA 21 assessment system was developed by a consortium to help English language learner (ELL)…

Placement testing is a crucial issue in Japanese universities. In the majority of language programs, classes are streamed by proficiency levels based on students' placement test score for efficient instruction because university students' proficiency levels vary greatly even in the same program. The Visualizing English Language Competency Test®…

Validity and reliability are among the most crucial characteristics of a test. One of the steps to make sure that a test is valid and reliable is to examine the bias in test items. The purpose of this study was to examine the bias in 2012 Placement Test items in terms of gender variable using Rasch Model in Turkey. The sample of this study was…

English language programmes provide established pathways for international students seeking university admission in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. In order to refer international applicants to appropriate levels and durations of English language support prior to matriculation into their main course of study, pathway providers…

In response to the need for examples of test validation from which everyday language programs can benefit, this paper reports on a study that used Bachman's (2005) assessment use argument (AUA) framework to examine evidence to support claims made about the intended interpretations and uses of scores based on a new web-based Spanish language…

Reversing the original C-Test (Raatz & Klein-Braley, 1981), the modified C-Test (mC-Test) deletes the "first" half (instead of the second half) of every second word (Boonsathorn, 1987). It is also known as the X-Test (Cleary, 1988; Prapphal, 1994, 1996). This web-based version was explored to investigate its reliability, face…

Community college students are often placed in developmental math courses based on the results of a single placement test. However, concerns about accurate placement have recently led states and colleges across the country to consider using other measures to inform placement decisions. While the relationships between college outcomes and such…

The Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA) is a large-scale, high-stakes, English language proficiency/placement test administered in the United Arab Emirates to Emirati nationals in their final year of secondary education or Grade 12. The purpose of the CEPA is to place students into English classes at the appropriate government…

Assessment has long been a contentious issue in work-integrated learning (WIL) and cooperative education. Despite assessment being central to the integrity and accountability of a university and long-standing theories around best practice in assessment, enacting quality assessment practices has proven to be more difficult. Authors in this special…

For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students "college ready" or assign them to developmental education. Emerging information reveals the tests have little correlation to students' future success, casting doubt on their use even as the high stakes for students of taking remedial courses become clear.…

The Australian Professional Teaching Standards require pre-service teachers to complete a minimum number of days of professional experience in order to graduate. Problems can arise, however, when the evaluation of their professional experience against the Standards shifts from the providers of teacher education programmes to school-based…

State test scores administered for accountability purposes are regularly used to adjust instruction in nuanced ways. This is no accident--No Child Left Behind demanded that students' scores be returned quickly to teachers in order that this might be the case, and the idea of data-driven decision making continues as one way the promise of education…