This book provides basic skills and knowledge about assessment so that teachers can expand their ability to deal with appraisal problems in their own settings. The first section deals with the basic principles of assessment. The second section concerns creating and applying assessment tools. The third section reviews issues in understanding and interpreting published tests, and the fourth section deals with summarizing the achievement of teachers and children in various school programs. The following chapters are included: (1) "Underpinnings of Educational Assessment"; (2) "Constructing Measurable Learning Objectives"; (3) "Validity: What Does This Test Tell Me?"; (4) "Reliability: How Consistent Is Our Measurement"; (5) "Errors of Measurement: How To Work with Them"; (6)"Tailoring the Test to the Purpose"; (7) "Writing Objective Tests: Multiple Choice"; (8) "Writing Objective Tests: True-False, Matching, Completion"; (9) "Item Analysis: Finding the Test Items That Work"; (10) "Essays and Term Reports: Higher Order Processes"; (11) "Delivering Conventional Tests: Packaging; Administering; Debriefing"; (12) "Assessing Student Performance"; (13) "Computer Applications in Testing and Grading"; (14) "Statistical Processes Applied to Test Scores"; (15) "Standardized Tests"; (16) "Achievement Tests: Surveys of Academic Skills"; (17) "Assessing General Academic and Special Aptitudes"; (18) "Legal and Ethical Considerations in Testing"; (19) "Assigning Grades"; (20) "Telling Parents about Their Child's Achievement"; and (21) "Assessing School Programs." Four appendixes contain a discussion of statistical procedures for calculating correlation coefficients, a list of test publishers and tests, a list of sources of information on school tests, and a C-Language program for calculating descriptive statistics for tests. (Contains 16 tables, 37 figures, and 104 references.) (SLD)