Criterion-Referenced Test Development is designed specifically for training professionals who need to better understand how to develop criterion-referenced tests (CRTs). This important resource offers step-by-step guidance for how to make and defend Level 2 testing decisions, how to write test questions and performance scales that match jobs, and how to show that those certified as ?masters? are truly masters. A comprehensive guide to the development and use of CRTs, the book provides information about a variety of topics, including different methods of test interpretations, test construction, item formats, test scoring, reliability and validation methods, test administration, a score reporting, as well as the legal and liability issues surrounding testing. New revisions include: Illustrative real-world examples. Issues of test security. Advice on the use of test creation software. Expanded sections on performance testing. Single administration techniques for calculating reliability. Updated legal and compliance guidelines. Order the third edition of this classic and comprehensive reference guide to the theory and practice of organizational tests today.

This encyclopedia is the first major reference guide for students new to the field, covering traditional areas while pointing the way to future developments.

Over the last 20 years there have been a large number of technical advances and changes in the field of educational and psychological testing. According to Anne Anastasi, The decade of the 1980's has been a period of unusual advances in ,psychological testing. Technological progress, theoretical sophistication, and increasing pro fessional responsibility are all evident in the fast-moving events in this field (A. Anastasi, Psychological Testing, Sixth Edition. New York: Macmillan, 1988). On the psychometric front, advances in topics such as item response theory, criterion-referenced measurement, generalizability theory,· analy sis of covariance structures, and validity generalization are reshaping the ways that ability and achievement tests are constructed and evaluated, and that test scores are interpreted. But \Jsychometric advances, as substantial and important as they have been, are only a fraction of the major changes in the field of testing. Today, for example, the computer is radically chang ing the ways in which tests are constructed, administered, and scored. Computers are being used to administer tests "adaptively." That is, the sequence of questions an examinee is administered depends upon his or her performance on earlier administered items in the test. Tests are "adapted" to the ability levels of the examinees who are being assessed. One result is shorter tests with little or no loss in measurement precision. Computers are also being used to store or bank test items. Later, items of interest can be selected, and the computer is used to print copies of the test.

The purpose of this text is to present measurement concepts within the framework of contemporary evaluation. This book is designed primarily for use in either and introductory level graduate course or a senior level undergraduate course.

State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.