1. Tests are tools that can be appropriately or inappropriately used depending on their technical adequacy and the purpose and population they are being used for. 2. Testing is different from assessment in that testing involves administering and scoring tests, while assessment is a comprehensive process that considers test results alongside other information. 3. In recent history, educational testing has increased in use for accountability purposes in response to concerns about education standards, but there are ongoing debates around high-stakes testing and ensuring tests are valid and reliable for different populations.

1. Thinking back to your
own high school days,
what were some of the
factors that turned you off
about tests?

2. An Introduction to
Contemporary
Educational Testing
and Measurement
By: 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
Measurement
Current
Development
and Trends

3. Tests are Only
Tools

4. 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.

5. Therefore, there is no “one size
fits all” test that is appropriate
for every purpose and every
person.

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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”.

12. • 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)

13. Testing is one part of the
process of assessment,
but the assessment process
encompasses much more
than just testing.

14. The Distinction Between
Testing and Assessment
Process
Testing
Assessment
Process

15. 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.

16. Assessment Process
Information 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.

17. 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.

18. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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.

19. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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.

20. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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.

21. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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.

22. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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

23. Recent History of Educational
Measurement
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.

24. 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

25. 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.

26. 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

27. 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

28. Key Features of NCLB
Standards and Annual Assessments
Accountability/ Proficiency
Adequate Yearly Progress
Disaggregated Data/ Reporting

29. Standards and Annual
Assessments

30. Accountability/ Proficiency

31. Adequate Yearly Progress

32. Disaggregated Data/ Reporting

33. 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).

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. –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.

39. 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;

40.  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.

41. Thank you for
listening!