Basic Testing Links

*This page is intended as a quick introduction to online testing resources and issues. It is for student or lay public use and is by no means complete. I welcome suggestions for extending it further.

Send suggested URLs to: pballan@comnet.ca

Various figures in intelligence theory history:

*Includes biographies of people who have influenced the development of intelligence theory and testing. Also see their "hot topics" page.

Test Locator and Test Review engine page.

*This page allows you to search for the names and addresses of over 900 major commercial test publishers. The database was compiled by The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

The traditional source for estimates of test "reliability" and so-called "psychometric validity" through their Mental Measurements Yearbook (now online).

A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests: Administration, Norms, and Commentary. (Second Edition) OTFRIED SPREEN and ESTHER STRAUSS

Joint Committee on Testing Practices:

An initiative of six national associations including the APA as "a means by which professional organizations and test publishers can work together to improve the use of tests in assessment and appraisal." The APA Science Directorate invites your comments on their June 2001 "Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education."

Interview with Nicholas Lemann:

Building the 'Meritocracy' (Brigham, Conant, and Chauncey)

Lemann's 1995 Atlantic Monthly article

A Nation At Risk (1983): Impetus for high-stakes testing.

Specials

Special 1: "Secrets of the SAT" (1999).

Special 2: "Testing Our Schools (March 28, 2002) "

Debate over the proposed "New SAT" (2002):

"Last week, the trustees of the College Board voted to overhaul the SAT. It's the second major revision, in the last ten years, of the college entrance exam taken yearly by over a million high school students. The changes include adding a handwritten essay, higher-level math questions, and dropping the analogy section from the verbal test" (July2, 2002).

FairTest
Press Release about the "New SAT"

Interview with Claude Steele:

'Stereotype threat' in standardized test performance

The Nation's Report Card:View NAEP data.

The No Child Left Behind Act of Proposed 2001:

Executive summary from the Department of Education

Debate about the Act: Who will really benefit?

(signed by Bush Jan, 8, 2002).

National Education Goals Panel dissolved:

Teachers protest the Bush Testing plan:

Why “No Child Left Behind”
Will Fail Our Children

The New York Times provides this collection of print media articles on recent testing issues (including the first Boycotts of school testing).

News clips on Testing (Fairtest)

Failing Our Children: How "No Child Left Behind" Undermines Quality and Equality in Education (May 2004)

*View the respective international rankings on Reading, Math, and Science:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-Education Survey (which collected data on 25,000, 15-year -olds from 32 developed countries (April-May, 2000).

Legal Status of Affirmative Action for university admissions:

-Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger:

Other important Legal Cases over testing:

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.:

Debra P. v. Turlington:

Hopwood v. State of Texas (1996)

SUMMARY OF DEBRA P. v. TURLINGTON:

Military's account of the ASVAB and AFQT:

*Start with their history of the ASVAB: ABCs of the ASVAB

Debate over use of ASVAB in High Schools:

ASVAB: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

Can Equity in testing procedures be achieved?

CARE (mirror at Fair test)

CalCARECalifornia Coalition for
Authentic Reform in Education

The sky is falling! Readington gets "early warning" status from the NJ Department of Education!

School Vouchers Overview (2004):

As NOW WITH BILL MOYERS documents in "A Private Agenda," the Department of Education is keeping up the push for vouchers — providing $77 million to private, conservative groups promoting the privatization of public education. Undoubtedly, the issue will figure in the 2004 election.

What will Psychologists do if anything?

Care to contact the test publishers?

The ETS is well known as the publisher of the SAT, GRE, MCAT and LSAT. According to an October 2001 report in the industry newsletter Educational Marketer, however, Harcourt, CTB McGraw-Hill, and Riverside Publishing write 96 percent of the exams administered at the state level. NCS Pearson, meanwhile, is the leading scorer of standardized tests.

Employment tests:

DOLPHIN STRESS TEST

Psychologists and War: February 27, 2003

Smarter people no wealthier, study finds

"People who score higher on intelligence tests may still have difficulty balancing their chequebooks, according to a U.S. study that finds no link between smarts and wealth."
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
CBC News

Collateral Damage
July 25, 2007

Nichols and Berliner show how the pressures of high-stakes testing erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. Their analysis provides a comprehensive intellectual framework for arguments against high-stakes testing, while putting a compelling human face on the data marhaled in support of those arguments.