Editorial

This is the 1999 back-to-school issue of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. I’ve always felt that for those of us in the field of education the fall repre- sents the new year. Technically, the new year began January 1; for the lovers of the outdoors, it began in spring; for business people, it’s July 1. But, for educa- tors, the new year occurs sometime around Labor Day. This is the time when schoolchildren forgive schools for the year they had last year and eagerly await opening day. Campuses are filled with students moving into their dorms, and faculty are wondering how the course being offered for the first time will go. It is a time of re- newal and a time of optimism. I wish you a happy, healthy, and productive new year.

In examining the contributions to this issue, it occurs to me that this is the most international edition under this editorship. The topics and authors come from such exotic locales as Botswana, The Netherlands, Hawaii, Singapore, and New Jersey. That’s about all that holds these articles together, but I hope you will enjoy this mixed grill.

2000 ELECTIONS The NCME Nominations Committee is pleased to nominate

the following candidates for the 2000 elections.

For Vice President HD Hoover

University of Iowa Pamela Moss

University of Michigan

For Board of Directors At Large

Rebecca Zwick University of California, Santa Barbara

Robert Lissitz University of Maryland

LEA Board of Directors LeAnn Gamache

Littleton Public Schools, Colorado Jonathan Dings

Boulder Valley Public Schools, Colorado

Directors serve a 3-year term; one person is to be elected from each category. Nominations can also be made by NCME mem- bers. The bylaws state that “other nominations may then be sub- mitted by the written request of at least ten active or emeritus members, provided such nominations are received before De- cember 1 .” Send nomination petitions to NCME, 1230 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036-3078. Ballots will be mailed to members in late December 1999.

The issue begins with an excellent essay by Randy Bennett on how new technology will transform assess- ment. Randy looks at five areas of assessment: test de- sign, item generation, task presentation, scoring, and testing purpose and location. He looks at a new devel- opment in each of these areas and examines how it will play out over the coming years. This piece is thoughtful, insightful, well-written, and it contains a killer refer- ence list for new technology junkies.

The second article is adapted from Jim Popham’s opening session address to the National Conference on Large Scale Assessment in 1998. In it, Jim admonishes the field to check our compass to see if large scale as- sessment is really headed in the direction we want it to go. He argues that large scale assessment has been too greatly influenced by the desire for such measures to provide for accountability and too little influenced by the desire to enhance instruction. It seems particularly appropriate to consider such issues as a new school year begins.

The third article looks at the topic of comparative ed- ucational studies using the IEA reading study as a spe- cific example. This article, by Tim0 Bechger, Godfried van den Wittenboer, Joop J . Hox, and C. De Glopper, ex- amines the conditions necessary to make comparative statements among groups and, in the example used, among nations. The authors remind us of what is nec- essary to have what they call comparative validity. I was particularly struck by their argument for having comparative studies include variables in their design that would allow for an interpretation of why differ- ences between groups exist.

The final article serves as a reminder that regression toward the mean is one of the few constants in our pro- fession. Howard Wainer relates in an entertaining fash- ion an example from his work with a Hawaiian school that contacted him about a problem with its best stu- dents. Howard provides us with some historical back- ground on regression toward the mean, a reminder that regression stems not just from less than perfect correla- tion between variables but also from measurement error, and a simple approach for estimating its magni- tude in a given situation. I’m saving this piece for my classes and for the occasional school board member who calls with a concern similar to Howard’s protagonist.

This is the second issue containing our new Inter- national News section, and it contains another piece on assessment issues in Singapore by Sui Hoi Poh. I hope that EMZP readers are enjoying learning about inter- national testing developments as much as I am.

Jeffrey Smith Editor

4 Educational Measurement Issues and Practice