This digest presents seven strategies that an assessment director may use to improve test administration practices. These strategies highlight clear communication, the responsibility of the Building Test Coordinator, and rewarding and reinforcing quality. The strategies are: (1) focusing on communication; (2) designating a building test…

The logistic positive exponent family (LPEF) of models has been proposed by F. Samejima (1998) for dichotomous responses. This family of models is characterized by point-asymmetric item characteristic curves (ICCs). This paper introduces the LPEF family, and discusses its usefulness in educational measurement and the implications of its use.…

The standards outlined in this book have been developed to provide criteria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices, and the effects of test use. The "Standards" provides a frame of reference to ensure that relevant issues are addressed. The first part of the book, "Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation,"…

Knowing and having just learned are not exactly the same thing. Neither is the fact that a student can think necessarily evidence that he has been taught. This provocative study raises more questions than it answers. (Editor)

Some examples of how students read test items are presented. The results of interviews with students who have taken a multiple-choice test indicate that they do not always solve problems on the test the way we think they do. (JP)

A brief survey of the mathematics involved in the theory of educational testing. (MM)

Presents individual student testing profiles to provide meaningful graphic presentations of standardized test results. (Author/RK)

Increasing pressures on students to gain admission to highly competitive colleges has brought about an upsurge in tutorial services and the use of sample test questions, which are supposed to guarantee success on college admissions tests. Their effect, at best seems scant. (Author/RK)

Several test publishers respond to a charge of racism in testing, made by Robert L. Williams in the previous edition of this journal. Responding are: George Bennett of The Psychological Corporation, John Sommer of Houghton-Mifflin, Leo A. Munday of the American College Testing Program, Samuel Messick and Scarvia Anderson of the Educational Testing…

The increasing relation between domain-referenced measurement and its implications in instruction are discussed with the argument that construction methods available do not guarantee content validity which needs more attention to be effective. Two domain-referenced testing procedures illustrate construction and validity problems. (CM)

Teachers have become aware that they are expected to make judgments and be judged on the basis of test results. In a shared responsibility among teachers, training institutions, testing companies, and school boards, fair use of tests requires that teachers get information on types of tests and test use. (Author/CM)

A longitudinal evaluation of the utility of a screening battery administered in kindergarten is shown to retain a high utility for predicting current achievement outcomes of the sample at the end of grade six. The use of discriminant functional analysis and statistical decision theory is discussed. (Author/CM)