Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment
Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment

Author: Harold Berlak

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780791408773

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The authors of this book question the assumptions of the psychometric paradigm that underlie virtually all criterion-referenced and standardized tests used in North American schools. They make a compelling case for a new science of educational testing and assessment, one that shifts decision making from central administration to individual schools and communities. Harold Berlak argues that the concept of tests as scientific instruments validated by technical experts is anachronistic and self-contradictory. He makes a case for a contextual paradigm, an approach which assumes that consensus on educational goals and national testing programs is neither possible nor desireable. Assessment practices in a democratic society must acknowledge and affirm differences in values, beliefs, and material interests among individuals and groups over the purposes and practices of schooling.

Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment
Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment

Author: Harold Berlak

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1992-02-06

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9780791408780

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The authors of this book question the assumptions of the psychometric paradigm that underlie virtually all criterion-referenced and standardized tests used in North American schools. They make a compelling case for a new science of educational testing and assessment, one that shifts decision making from central administration to individual schools and communities. Harold Berlak argues that the concept of tests as scientific instruments validated by technical experts is anachronistic and self-contradictory. He makes a case for a contextual paradigm, an approach which assumes that consensus on educational goals and national testing programs is neither possible nor desireable. Assessment practices in a democratic society must acknowledge and affirm differences in values, beliefs, and material interests among individuals and groups over the purposes and practices of schooling.

Seeing Students Learn Science
Seeing Students Learn Science

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-03-24

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 0309444357

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Science educators in the United States are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science. Children are natural explorers and their observations and intuitions about the world around them are the foundation for science learning. Unfortunately, the way science has been taught in the United States has not always taken advantage of those attributes. Some students who successfully complete their Kâ€"12 science classes have not really had the chance to "do" science for themselves in ways that harness their natural curiosity and understanding of the world around them. The introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards led many states, schools, and districts to change curricula, instruction, and professional development to align with the standards. Therefore existing assessmentsâ€"whatever their purposeâ€"cannot be used to measure the full range of activities and interactions happening in science classrooms that have adapted to these ideas because they were not designed to do so. Seeing Students Learn Science is meant to help educators improve their understanding of how students learn science and guide the adaptation of their instruction and approach to assessment. It includes examples of innovative assessment formats, ways to embed assessments in engaging classroom activities, and ideas for interpreting and using novel kinds of assessment information. It provides ideas and questions educators can use to reflect on what they can adapt right away and what they can work toward more gradually.

Knowing What Students Know
Knowing What Students Know

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-10-27

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 0309293227

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Education is a hot topic. From the stage of presidential debates to tonight's dinner table, it is an issue that most Americans are deeply concerned about. While there are many strategies for improving the educational process, we need a way to find out what works and what doesn't work as well. Educational assessment seeks to determine just how well students are learning and is an integral part of our quest for improved education. The nation is pinning greater expectations on educational assessment than ever before. We look to these assessment tools when documenting whether students and institutions are truly meeting education goals. But we must stop and ask a crucial question: What kind of assessment is most effective? At a time when traditional testing is subject to increasing criticism, research suggests that new, exciting approaches to assessment may be on the horizon. Advances in the sciences of how people learn and how to measure such learning offer the hope of developing new kinds of assessments-assessments that help students succeed in school by making as clear as possible the nature of their accomplishments and the progress of their learning. Knowing What Students Know essentially explains how expanding knowledge in the scientific fields of human learning and educational measurement can form the foundations of an improved approach to assessment. These advances suggest ways that the targets of assessment-what students know and how well they know it-as well as the methods used to make inferences about student learning can be made more valid and instructionally useful. Principles for designing and using these new kinds of assessments are presented, and examples are used to illustrate the principles. Implications for policy, practice, and research are also explored. With the promise of a productive research-based approach to assessment of student learning, Knowing What Students Know will be important to education administrators, assessment designers, teachers and teacher educators, and education advocates.

New Directions in Educational Technology
New Directions in Educational Technology

Author: Eileen Scanlon

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 3642777503

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This book is based on the workshop that kickstarted the NATO Science Committee Special Programme on Advanced Educational Technology. We invited the leaders in the field to attend this inaugural meeting and were delighted by the quality of the attendance, the papers delivered at the workshop and this book. Many of the authors have subsequently run other meetings funded by the Special Programme and have, or are in the process of, editing books which focus on particular topics. This book covers all the major themes in the area ranging from fundamental theoretical work to empirical studies of state of the art technological innovations. Tim O'Shea chaired the NATO Survey Group which planned the Programme and the subsequent Panel which disbursed funds in the first two years of the Programme. He would like to thank the other group and panel members, namely, Professor N Balacheff, Professor D Bjomer, Professor H Bouma, Professor P C Duchastel, Professor A Dias de Figueiredo, Dr D Jonassen and Professor T Liao. He would like to offer his special thanks to Dr L V da Cunha the NATO Programme Director for his unfailing support and patience. Eileen Scanlon was the Director of the Workshop which is the basis of this book. She offers heartfelt thanks to the contributors and to the following who provided practical help with the meeting or the production of this book: Mrs Pauline Adams, Dr Mike Baker, Mrs Kathy Evans, Mrs Patricia Roe, Mr Dave Perry and Ms Fiona Spensley.

Advancing Human Assessment
Advancing Human Assessment

Author: Randy E. Bennett

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-17

Total Pages: 717

ISBN-13: 3319586890

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This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license.​​ This book describes the extensive contributions made toward the advancement of human assessment by scientists from one of the world’s leading research institutions, Educational Testing Service. The book’s four major sections detail research and development in measurement and statistics, education policy analysis and evaluation, scientific psychology, and validity. Many of the developments presented have become de-facto standards in educational and psychological measurement, including in item response theory (IRT), linking and equating, differential item functioning (DIF), and educational surveys like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Programme of international Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In addition to its comprehensive coverage of contributions to the theory and methodology of educational and psychological measurement and statistics, the book gives significant attention to ETS work in cognitive, personality, developmental, and social psychology, and to education policy analysis and program evaluation. The chapter authors are long-standing experts who provide broad coverage and thoughtful insights that build upon decades of experience in research and best practices for measurement, evaluation, scientific psychology, and education policy analysis. Opening with a chapter on the genesis of ETS and closing with a synthesis of the enormously diverse set of contributions made over its 70-year history, the book is a useful resource for all interested in the improvement of human assessment.

Validity in Educational and Psychological Assessment
Validity in Educational and Psychological Assessment

Author: Paul Newton

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2014-04-15

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1473904056

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Validity is the hallmark of quality for educational and psychological measurement. But what does quality mean in this context? And to what, exactly, does the concept of validity apply? These apparently innocuous questions parachute the unwary inquirer into a minefield of tricky ideas. This book guides you through this minefield, investigating how the concept of validity has evolved from the nineteenth century to the present day. Communicating complicated concepts straightforwardly, the authors answer questions like: What does ′validity′ mean? What does it mean to ′validate′? How many different kinds of validity are there? When does validation begin and end? Is reliability a part of validity, or distinct from it? This book will be of interest to anyone with a professional or academic interest in evaluating the quality of educational or psychological assessments, measurements and diagnoses.

Mathematics Assessment and Evaluation
Mathematics Assessment and Evaluation

Author: Thomas A. Romberg

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780791408995

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Are current testing practices consistent with the goals of the reform movement in school mathematics? If not, what are the alternatives? How can authentic performance in mathematics be assessed? These and similar questions about tests and their uses have forced those advocating change to examine the way in which mathematical performance data is gathered and used in American schools. This book provides recent views on the issues surrounding mathematics tests, such as the need for valid performance data, the implications of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics for test development, the identification of valid items and tests in terms of the Standards, the procedures now being used to construct a sample of state assessment tests, gender differences in test taking, and methods of reporting student achievement.