The History Of Educational Measurement

The History of Educational Measurement collects essays on the most important topics in educational testing, measurement, and psychometrics. Authored by the field’s top scholars, this book offers unique historical viewpoints, from origins to modern applications, of formal testing programs and mental measurement theories. Topics as varied as large-scale testing, validity, item-response theory, federal involvement, and notable assessment controversies complete a survey of the field’s greatest challenges and most important achievements. Graduate students, researchers, industry professionals, and other stakeholders will find this volume relevant for years to come.

Social Justice and Educational Measurement addresses foundational concerns at the interface of standardized testing and social justice in American schools. Following John Rawls’s philosophical methods, Stein builds and justifies an ethical framework for guiding practices involving educational measurement. This framework demonstrates that educational measurement can both inhibit and ensure just educational arrangements. It also clarifies a principled distinction between efficiency-oriented testing and justice-oriented testing. Through analysis of several historical case studies that exemplify ethical issues related to testing, this book explores and propounds speculative design principles and arguments in favour of radically democratic school reforms, which address how the future of testing might be shaped to ensure justice for all. These case studies cover the widespread use of IQ-style testing in schools during the early decades of the 20th century; the founding of the Educational Testing Service; and the recent history of test-based accountability associated with No Child Left Behind. Social Justice and Educational Measurement will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in education, testing and assessment, and the philosophy of education. It will also be of interest to policymakers and educational administrators.

This book introduces and explores major topics in contemporary educational measurement: criterion-referenced testing, item response theory (IRT), computer-based testing, cross-lingual and cross-cultural assessment, and accountability testing. Psychometric experts describe forward-looking measurement practices and provide a contextualized understanding of how and why they were developed, how they can be used, and where they may go in the future. In addition to presenting key concepts and formulas, the volume covers established and emerging applications and discusses recurrent challenges that require additional research. A helpful glossary of abbreviations is included. The book is grounded in the work of Ronald K. Hambleton.

Historical and Conceptual Foundations of Measurement in the Human Sciences explores the assessment and measurement of nonphysical attributes that define human beings: abilities, personalities, attitudes, dispositions, and values. The proposition that human attributes are measurable remains controversial, as do the ideas and innovations of the six historical figures--Gustav Fechner, Francis Galton, Alfred Binet, Charles Spearman, Louis Thurstone, and S. S. Stevens--at the heart of this book. Across 10 rich, elaborative chapters, readers are introduced to the origins of educational and psychological scaling, mental testing, classical test theory, factor analysis, and diagnostic classification and to controversies spanning the quantity objection, the role of measurement in promoting eugenics, theories of intelligence, the measurement of attitudes, and beyond. Graduate students, researchers, and professionals in educational measurement and psychometrics will emerge with a deeper appreciation for both the challenges and the affordances of measurement in quantitative research.

This book is an attempt to bridge, in part, a gap between theory and practice in educational tests and measurements. Most of the books on the subject have been rather technical, pre-supposing considerable training on the part of readers, or they have been manuals of directions for giving the tests and scoring the papers, with little reference to the problems confronting those attempting to measure educational processes and products. This book deals with this subject in an evolutionary fashion so that teachers and students may see how problems have arisen, the attempts at solutions, and therefore understand the principles of testing and measurement. The book aims to present these fundamental principles, as far as possible, in non-technical language, and to confine the statistical treatment of the data to simple operations in arithmetic.

"This book explores the development of online assessment and the way practitioners of online learning can modify their methodologies in the design, development, and delivery of their instruction to best accommodate their participants"--Provided by publisher.

In an era of curricular changes and experiments and high-stakes testing, educational measurement and evaluation is more important than ever. In addition to expected entries covering the basics of traditional theories and methods, other entries discuss important sociopolitical issues and trends influencing the future of that research and practice. Textbooks, handbooks, monographs and other publications focus on various aspects of educational research, measurement and evaluation, but to date, there exists no major reference guide for students new to the field. This comprehensive work fills that gap, covering traditional areas while pointing the way to future developments. Features: Nearly 700 signed entries are contained in an authoritative work spanning four volumes and available in choice of electronic and/or print formats. Although organized A-to-Z, front matter includes a Reader’s Guide grouping entries thematically to help students interested in a specific aspect of education research, measurement, and evaluation to more easily locate directly related entries. (For instance, sample themes include Data, Evaluation, Measurement Concepts & Issues, Research, Sociopolitical Issues, Standards.) Back matter includes a Chronology of the development of the field; a Resource Guide to classic books, journals, and associations; and a detailed Index. Entries conclude with References/Further Readings and Cross References to related entries. The Index, Reader’s Guide themes, and Cross References will combine to provide robust search-and-browse in the e-version.