This issue is the first issue of the year 2000, which many consider to be the new millenium. This issue will appear well after the New Year, so let me begin by wish- ing that it went well for everyone. Probably more than a few NCME members would argue that 2001 is the proper beginning of the millenium, but I won’t be editor of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice then, so I am taking this opportunity to welcome EM:IP read- ers to the millenium. It is probably a sign of the vigor and health of our field that it would be very difficult to predict where we will be in measurement for any but the smallest portion of this millenium. As we enter a decade that doesn’t even have a nickname (my grand- mother used to call a zero a “naught,” so I’m proposing the “Naughties”), we find measurement a t the center of policy and political debates, with annual college admis- sions test score gains or losses and international com- parisons the subject of newspaper headlines and Sunday morning political talk shows. It is a spotlight I think we are not entirely comfortable with but unable to avoid.

This issue of EM:IP leads off with an article from NCME past president Bob Brennan concerning (‘(Mis)- Conceptions About Generalizability Theory.” Because assessment formats have exploded over the past 10 years, the usefulness of generalizability theory has been re-discovered by many EM:IP readers. Bob’s thoughtful and thought-provoking piece may spur some of us to re- consider our approach to looking at issues of test qual- ity. It does address a number of misconceptions about generalizability theory, but I think you will find it does more than that.

The second article looks at “Trends in Large-Scale Testing Outside the United States.” Richard Phelps has compiled information on testing programs in 31 differ- ent countries and drawn the conclusion that the trend in these countries is clearly toward more testing. Test- ing outside the U.S. exists at a variety of levels and for a variety of purposes. This piece also provides a frame- work for looking at our continuing feature of updates on international issues in measurement.

The third article in this issue examines ‘(Legal and Psychometric Criteria for Evaluating Teacher Certifi- cation Tests.” Stephen Sireci and Preston Green dis- cuss how the courts look at teacher certification testing practices. They consider the laws that pertain to the teacher certification testing process, how the courts have viewed various pertinent issues, and make recommen- dations for programs that are legally and psychometri- cally defensible.

The issue concludes with our next two installments on international issues in measurement. First, Mpho Mohlala and Dumisani Dlamini of the Independent Ex- aminations Board look at changes in South Africa’s as- sessment approach. Then Michelle Liou of Academia Sinica and Chen-Quei Liu of the College Entrance Ex- amination Center discuss progress in Taiwan’s college entrance examinations.

That concludes the introduction; I hope you enjoy the issue and the millenium.

Jeffrey Smith Editor

I SELECTED PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS for the 2000 ANNUAL MEETING

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Linking Assessments Effectively: Purpose and Design-Michael J . Kolen

INVITED SYMPOSIA Looking Forward and Back: Measurement Issues for the 21st Century

Organizer: Catherine Welsh Chairperson: Cynthia Schmeiser Participants: Michael T Kane, Robert L. Brennan, Nancy Cole, Mark D. Reckase, Rick Stiggins, Eva Bake6 Susan

Embretson, and Ronald K. Hambleton

Maintaining Test Security in Computerized Testing Programs-Implications for Practice Organizer: Cynthia G. Parshall

Linking Educational Assessments Organizer and Moderator: Bradley A. Hanson

Moderator: Lynda Reese Participants: Fanmin Guo, John Kalohn, Gerald Rosen, and Mark D. Shermis

Participants: Paul W Holland, Eugene G. Johnson, and Daniel Koretz

New Considerations of Validity With Second Language Tests Organizers: Craig Deville and Micheline Chalboub-Deville (and Moderator)

Participants: Terry Ackerman, Lyle E Bachman, Charles Stansjield, and Bruno D. Zumbo

4 Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice