Chapter 7 - Achievement Testing

Abstract

This chapter discusses the development and trends in achievement testing. During the mid-1970s the use of standardized tests among a variety of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educational programs came under severe criticism. Educational programs came under severe criticism. The use of standardized achievement tests in particular involved over 80 percent of American school children, with some of these children taking 26 achievements test during school career. The main criticism of the tests have centered on the equality of the tests themselves. The standardized objective achievement test based on a normative sample, a spelling test of 50 words (with alternate forms) was administered to 16,000 students in grades 4 through 8 across the country. The major contribution and the objective of the test and its scientific approach were to the assessment of student knowledge. Early in the 1990s, the literature on achievement testing was concerned with latent-trait theory, item-response curves, and an assessment of learning achievement that is built into the instructional process. With the later 1990s, concerns have tended to focus on the intrinsic nature of the achievement test itself. Computer-adaptive testing is not the computerization of standardized norm-referenced paper-and-pencil tests but a radically different approach. The approach is based on a concept of a continuum of learning and where a particular child fits on that continuum, so that his or her experience with testing is one of success rather than failure. Computer-adapted testing, the use of alternative assessment tools has taken a front row seat.