This book offers specific how-to advice to college faculty on every stage of the testing process, including planning the test and classifying objectives to be measured, ensuring the validity and reliability of the test, and grading in such a way as to arrive at fair grades based on relevant data. The book examines the strengths and weaknesses of many types of tests, including both traditional (multiple-choice, true-false, matching, completion, and essays) and alternative (take-home, open-book, and oral) assessment procedures. For every testing procedure, faculty members are shown how they can write tests that are fairer and more valid and that do a better job of measuring what students learn, thereby improving faculty members' ability to assess learning outcomes. The book reveals how essay tests may often measure only the skill of the grader in assessing what the writer has said, and offers suggestions for improving the instructor's skill in reading essays and scoring them reliably. Additionally discussed are the problem of cheating and ways of dealing with it, as well as the advantages and limitations of using computers for classroom testing. Finally, alternative assessment procedures such as portfolios, journals, and peer testing are described. Contains over 100 references and an index. (GLR)