This speech deals with the assumptions and approaches underlying educational assessment and suggests alternatives to standardized testing. It is proposed that the assumption that test items can be standardized is at the base of assessment problems; while there are standard mental functions which children develop, there are no standard items that…

Six current issues in the use of tests are examined in this paper. Are the tests used in education valid? In general and to a reasonably satisfactory extent they are. Is the emphasis these tests place on cognitive achievements a serious limitation? Because of the basic and pervasive role of cognition in human affairs, and in the absence of any…

The purpose of this digest is to summarize major portions of the literature on assessment in counseling and therapy. In this collection of 32 digests, assessment is used to refer to assessment of clients as well as evaluations of program and counselor effectiveness. Recognized professionals have written about topics that are grouped into nine…

Large-scale assessment programs rely on teachers to administer the tests and to interpret and communicate the results. Consequently, it is important that teachers have up-to-date knowledge about the testing programs. Education Departments' web sites are ideal tools for communicating such information to teachers. The web sites of Education…

At the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, governors from 45 states joined with business leaders and education officials to address a critical problem in American education: Too few students graduate from high school prepared for the demands of college and careers in an increasingly competitive global economy. To monitor state progress…

Since 1959, ACT has collected and reported data on students' academic readiness for college. Because becoming ready for college is a process that occurs throughout elementary and secondary education, measuring academic performance over time in the context of college readiness provides meaningful and compelling information about the college…

The findings from this qualified phenomenological research study involved 20 secondary general education teachers who taught inclusion classes. The research study investigated the lived experiences and perceptions of teachers through in-depth interviews and using a modified van Kaam method of data analysis, Atlas.ti 6 software, and Microsoft Excel…

Testbanking provides teachers with an effective, low-cost, time-saving opportunity to improve the testing aspect of their classes. Testbanking, which involves the use of a testbank program and a computer, allows teachers to develop and generate tests and test-forms with a minimum of effort. Teachers who test using true and false, multiple choice,…

Performance-based assessment has the potential to support a richer curriculum and more accurately assess the skills of low-income minority students than standardized tests. Performance-based assessment has the following advantages: (1) it allows a wide range of expression; (2) it permits assessment of learning in a natural context while students…

A study of institutionalized educable mentally handicapped children (EMR's aged 6-7 to 12-6) was designed to evaluate the use of subtest combinations and learning tasks as predictors of achievement compared to single individual and group tests. Fifty-one subjects received a pretest battery of six individual tests, one group test, three learning…

The results obtained by three test administration modes were examined with a focus upon systematic bias due to lack of standardization of test administration procedures. The My Class Inventory was administered to ninety classrooms of fifth grade students in a large suburban school district. The 45 items on the inventory are distributed over five…

This review summarizes the major criticisms of standardized tests and testing and attempts an evaluation of the validity of the criticisms. Viewed in the context of type of test, manner of its use, and assumptions regarding its validity, the paper discusses: (1) the imperfect-prediction problem, where predictions of performance are invalidated by…

This is a selected compilation of 47 items relating to criticisms of tests and testing. The items cover the period of ten years immediately preceding the year 1966 and are held to be scholarly writings almost without exception. The books and articles listed carry extensive annotations and focus on the following aspects of tests and testing:…

An experimental study examined the possibility that proximity error could bias results from semantic differential questionnaires. Proximity error occurs when, due to the ordering, or polarity, of the differential scales, one answer on the semantic differential results in another answer to a subsequent question being substantially changed from what…

The performance of 131 urban sixth-grade students on the Uses Test of creativity was studied in four environments to determine the effects of testing condition variables and to find optimal testing procedures. Testing condition variables included the giving of grades vs. no grades and individual vs. group administration of the task. The four test…