An Introduction to Contemporary Educational Testing and Measurement

Thinking back to your own high school days, what were some of the

factors that turned you off about tests?

An Introduction to Contemporary

Educational Testing and

MeasurementBy: Irene Rose S. Villote

Test are Only Tools

Testing Process: Only a Part of the Assessment

The Distinction Between Testing and Assessment Process

Recent History of

Educational Measureme

ntCurrent D

evelopment and Trends

Tests are Only Tools

Concerns:1. Tests are only tools, and tools can be appropriately used, unintentionally misused and intentionally abused.2. Test, like other tools can be well designed or poorly designed.3. Both poorly designed tools and well-designed tools in the hand of ill-trained and inexperienced users can be dangerous.

Therefore, there is no “one size fits all” test that is appropriate

for every purpose and every person.

Tests are Not Infallible: Usefulness Vary Across Purposes

and Persons

• The most important factor that influence a tests usefulness is a test’s technical adequacy

Technical Adequacy includes several factors. Two that are of primary importance are:1. Test validity- performance on the

measure is related to what the measure is designed to assess

2. Score reliability - it indicates how free the measurement is from random error -it generates consistent results

The need to clarify a test’s intended use and the intended population when discussing the test’s usefulness emerged from deliberations among measurements experts from:• American Educational Research

Association (AERA)• American Psychological Association

(APA)• National Council on Measurement in

Education (NCME)

Different Purposes: Effects on Test Usefulness

Test’s usefulness can vary depending on the purpose of testing. A test’s usefulness , or validity, can be high for one purpose and low for another.

Different Populations: Effects on Test Usefulness

• The evidence of test’s validity and reliability can also vary depending on the characteristics of the people the test is used with.

• When evidence of a test’s validity and reliability is limited for the population being tested, tests result should be interpreted very cautiously. And, in such situations, the result of a single test should never be used independently to make important decisions.

Instead of relying on limited “snapshot” of student achievement for important decision making, we recommend that test results should be considered to be a part of assessment.

Testing Process: Only a Part of the Assessment

• Educators mistakenly believe that testing and assessment are synonymous.

• Some seem to have eliminated the word “test” from their vocabularies and replaced it with the term “assessment” because they believe that the use of the word assessment is less evaluative, threatening, or negative than the use of the word “testing”.

• Testing typically occurs on a specific day and an assessment process may span an entire semester or even the entire school year.

• Assessment process as a comprehensive evaluation made up of many components. A comprehensive assessment process will include test results from a variety of other measurement procedures (e.g., performance and portfolio assessments, observations, checklists, and rating scales)

Testing is one part of the process of assessment,

but the assessment process encompasses much more

than just testing.

The Distinction Between Testing and Assessment Process

Testing

AssessmentProcess

Testing• Tests are developed or selected,

administered to the class, and scored.

• Test results are then used to make decisions about a pupil (assign a grade, recommend for an advanced program), instruction (repeat, review, move on), curriculum (replace, revise), or other educational factors.

Assessment ProcessInformation is collected from tests and other

measurement instruments.This information is critically evaluated and

integrated with relevant background and contextual information.

The integration of critically analyzed test result and other information results in a decision about a pupil (assign a grade, recommend for an advanced program), instruction (repeat, review, move on), curriculum (replace, revise), or other educational factors.

Recent History of Educational Measurement

Late 1960s, a fairly strong anti-test sentiment began to develop in our country.

Some decried tests as weapons wilfully used to suppress minorities. To others, test represented simplistic attempts to measure complex traits or attributes.

From the classroom to the Supreme Court, testing and measurement practice came under close scrutiny. It seemed to some that tests were largely responsible for many of our society’s ills.


Late 1980s, more tests than ever were being administered.

The report A Nation at Risk by the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983 documented shortcomings of the U.S. public education system and led to increased calls for education reform and accountability. Tests and assessments have been the cornerstone of the accountability aspects of the education reform movement.


Test and assessment-based accountability became a national priority and requirement with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, landmark legislation intended to raise overall achievement, but especially for economically disadvantaged youth.

When tests are used to make such important decisions, they are called “high-stakes” tests.


Measurement experts advocate that important educational decisions should be made based on the integrated findings from a process of assessment that includes test scores rather than from test scores alone.

After 20 years, most have come to realize that abolishing testing will not be a remedy for the problem of education and contemporary society. If test were eliminated, these decisions would still be made but would be based on non-test data that might be subjective, opinionated and biased.


Essay test, knowledge organization assessment, portfolios, and various performance tests are increasingly being utilized in addition to traditional multiple-choice tests.

Performance and portfolio assessments – are authentic assessments, a term which suggest that these measures may be more accurate and valid than traditional tests.


Authentic assessments represent the most objective, valid, and reliable information that can be gathered about individuals.

Disadvantages:- costly- time-consuming to administer & score- it questions about the evidence for

validity and score reliability


For the foreseeable future, use of testing and assessment in education will at least remain at today’s elevated levels and may even increase. Competency in educational testing and assessment practice will enable informed educators to recognize and engage in “best practices” in the measurement area.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT and TRENDS

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) The Rapid Spread of State High-Stakes Testing Mandates

2004 Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA-04)

The Need to Identify Pupils at-Risk for Low Performance on Accountability Measures

The Lake Wobegon Effect and High-Stakes Testing

Performance and Portfolio Assessment

Competency Testing for Teachers

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in January 2002 become the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) commonly referred as “Nickel-B”.Intention: To improve educational opportunities for every American child– regardless of ethnicity, income or background.

4 Common-Sense Pillars of NCLB

Accountability for results

An emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research

Expanded parental options

Expanded local control and flexibility

Important Federal Educational Programs of NCLB

• Education for the Disadvantaged• Reading First/ Early Reading First

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers• Safe and Drug-free Schools

• Bilingual and Migrant Education• Education Technology

• Teacher Quality• Rural Education

• Impact Aid

Key Features of NCLBStandards and Annual AssessmentsAccountability/ ProficiencyAdequate Yearly ProgressDisaggregated Data/ Reporting

Standards and Annual Assessments• Fundamental requirement

of NCLB is annual

academic assessment for

accountability purposes.

• All annual assessment

under NCLB must be:

- Tied to state

standards,- Applicable to all

students- Technically reliable

• All students in all school

must be assessed.

Accountability/ Proficiency

NCLB requires states to

set ever increasing

annual proficiency goals

(e.g. passing scores),

with the requirement

that 100% of students

who take the test must

achieve the state

standard of proficiency

by the 2003-2004 school

year.

Adequate Yearly Progress

It requires that sufficient

yearly progress must be

made overall for the school

and for economically

disadvantage students,

students from major racial

and ethnic minority groups,

students with disabilities

and limited English

proficient students enrolled

in a school since the

beginning of school year.

Disaggregated Data/ Reporting

Under NCLB schools will

have to issue annual “report

cards” that describe

students achievement , the

percentage of students

participating in annual

assessments, changes in

achievement from previous

years and graduation rates.

Results must be reported for

the overall school but

broken down, or

disaggregated, for

economically disadvantaged

students.

The Rapid Spread of State High-Stakes Testing Mandates

• There now exist a wide variety of state regulations that require the use of test result entirely, or primarily to make annual “high-stakes” about students (e.g., promotion, graduation), school personnel (e.g., pay increases and continued employment), and even control of schools (e.g., state takeover of low performing school).

2004 Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act

(IDEIA-04)The intent of Congress was to reaffirm

that children with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education (FAPE) and to ensure that special education students have access to all the potential benefits that regular education students have from the general curriculum and education reform, including the reforms initiated by NCLB in 2002.

The Need to Identify Pupils at-Risk for Low Performance on

Accountability Measures• Teachers today must prepare all their students for one or more state, district, or school-wide benchmark tests. Benchmark tests are used to identify students at risk for failure on the annual assessment.

• To identify students who may be at risk to be low performers on the benchmark tests and the annual high-stakes test, teachers may increasingly be encouraged to used standardized and formal teacher-made measures.

The Lake Wobegon Effect and High-Stakes Testing

Teachers and district administrators familiar with a standardized norm-referenced test and it becomes enticing to “teach to the test” . This is most likely to occur when standardized test scores become the only basis for high-stakes decisions.

Performance and Portfolio Assessment

• Performance and portfolio assessment referred to as authentic assessment began to gain popularity in the 1990s.

• Test scholars no longer cling to the notion that accurate assessments of behaviour can be derived only from formal test but also from performance and portfolio assessment.

–Under IDEIA, children must be evaluated regularly to assess their ongoing progress in the general education curriculum through performance and portfolio assessments.

Purposes:1. to provide parents with

regular report of progress.2. to determine whether

children with disabilities as a group are progressing in the general curriculum.

Competency Testing for Teachers

• In the early 1980s, a number of states passed legislation requiring teachers to pass paper and pencil competency test of teaching for the development of professional teaching standards– Major Goals: To established high and rigorous

standards for what effective teachers should know and be able to do;

To develop and operate a national, voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet these standards;

To advance related education reforms for the purpose of improving student learning.

The classroom teacher who is trained in educational testing procedures will be able to use test results more efficiently and effectively and will be less likely to misuse or abuse test results.

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listening!