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The Handbook will help solve many of the testing problems imposed by the Individuals With Disabilities Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, and accountability testing mandated by law in most states—and more recently, by the many students failing the tests. The Handbook also includes evaluations of over 100 tests most frequently used in education, such as tests of achievement (e.g. Terra Nova), intelligence (e.g. Binet), teacher certification (e.g. Praxis), college admission (e.g. SAT) and many more. Guidelines are provided to show educators how to select, construct, and defend the tests they use and for complying with the demands in special education. It is the first resource book on testing written in plain English specifically for educators. Tests in the Handbook are grouped together according to their use in education:
Criteria For Including Tests In The Handbook Since the handbook is written for educators, only reviews of tests relevant to the decisions educators make are considered. In addition, only tests that meet minimum validity, reliability, and objectivity criteria are included. Educators' time is precious. You should not need to consider useless tests when attempting to select a test for your purpose. However, an attempt is made to be liberal in establishing minimum criteria and to make exceptions when it is thought that a test may still be useful for a particular purpose. When exceptions to the criteria are allowed, explanations are given and test limitations are acknowledged.
Qualifications Of Test Reviewers: Test reviewers were selected with great care. Having expertise in psychometrics was necessary but not sufficient to be selected. Test reviewers also needed to be familiar with education both as a field of study and as a profession, and to have an earned Ph.D. Reviewers had to have expertise in reviewing the particular type of tests they were assigned: admission, placement , instructional prescription, achievement certification, referral, or evaluation instruments.
Admissions Tests: The primary reviewer, Charles W. Hatch, is a consultant to state departments of education on certification tests educators must pass to be admitted to the education profession. For example, many states require applicants for teacher certification to pass PRAXIS tests. He also offers workshops to prepare applicants for teacher certification to pass the PRAXIS tests and college applicants and aspirants to pass tests such as the SAT and ACT tests. He is also familiar with the early childhood tests used to determine the extent to which young children are ready to be admitted to school for the first time. He has an earned Ph.D. in Educational Research Measurement. Placement Tests: The primary reviewer, Aileen C. Lau-Dickerson, has an earned doctorate in Special Education with specialization in assessment testing. She is very familiar with all of the federal disability laws that must be heeded when placing disabled students in programs. When appropriate she refers to laws in her reviews. She has been involved in placement decisions affecting a great many students and knows the protocol for making placements. Instructional Prescription Tests: The primary reviewer, Katherine P. Schnepel, has an earned Ph.D. in Educational Research and Measurement with a concentration in instruction. She is experienced in evaluating instructional programs and classroom instruction, and has expertise in diagnosing academic inadequacies and prescribing corrective instruction to remediate them. She is very familiar with tests used to diagnose inadequate mastery of sub skills needed to perform major skills taught in school, such as reading. Achievement Certification Tests: The primary reviewer, Myles I. Friedman, has an earned doctorate in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on research and measurement. He has constructed achievement tests and served as a consultant to the federal government, state departments of education, and schools on the assessment of student achievement. He also established master's and doctoral programs in Research and Measurement. Referral Tests: The primary reviewer, Amanda B. Nickerson, has an earned Ph.D. in School Psychology and teaches school psychology at a university. School psychologists are usually more involved in referral decisions than other school employees. They not only have expertise in academic testing, they also are experienced with tests that diagnose underlying causes of academic failure, such as tests that identify behavior, psychomotor, adaptation, hearing, and vision problems. She is experienced in evaluating causes of failure to learn and in making referrals to alleviate the causes. She has conducted needs assessments and worked with school teams to make referral decisions. Criteria For Evaluating Educational Practices: The primary reviewer, Jacqueline E. Jacobs, has an earned doctorate in Special Education and Higher Education Administration and has taught evaluation and measurement courses in special education. Her current position as associate professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policies, and prior position as a school principal provide her with the experience required to understand the educational practices that are and need to be evaluated, as well as criteria used to evaluate the practices. All of the reviewers are co-authors of the handbook. The Educators' Handbook on Effective Testing vs. Buros' Mental Measurement Yearbooks and A Consumer Guide to Tests in Print Buros' Mental Measurements Yearbooks attempt to assess all
mental tests in print, many of which are not relevant to the decisions educators
make. Many tests reviewed provide little or no evidence of validity and / or reliability. |
