Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Going into its eighth edition, this book is a classic in the field of educational measurement. It was written from the point of view of the classroom teacher to answer the question, "What does a teacher need to know about the development and evaluation of educational measures and assessments?" This book fosters an understanding of how assessment and instruction are interrelated. It also cultivates learning the techniques and skills needed to develop tests and other evaluation procedures (e.g. portfolios), as well as teaches students to understand how to evaluate the validity and reliability of tests. Unlike many books in educational measurement, this book also gives readers what they need to know to properly interpret the results from standardized achievement and scholastic aptitude tests. Topics include: test reliability and validity; meaning and application of the norms; extraneous factors that influence performance of cognitive tests; the development of educational measures; and more. Teachers, principals, and counselors.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Each chapter opens with Introduction and closes with
• Chapter Tests
• Preface
• I Basic Concepts
• l1 Measurement: Its Nature and Function
• Assessment and Measurement
• How Much Precision Is Needed?
• Variables That Are Not Directly Observable?
• Observation and Quantification
• The Paradox of Testing
• The Respectful Use of Tests
• Measurement and Evaluation in the Educational Process
• Subjectivity and Objectivity
• Educational Decisions Founded on Evaluation
• Essential Knowledge and Skills
• The Goals and Functions of Testing
• Instructional Functions
• Administrative Functions
• Research and Evaluation
• Guidance Functions
• 2 Communicating Information: Interpretation of Quantitative Data
• Frequency Distributions, Central Tendency, and Skewness (programmed)
• Classification and Tabulation
• The Ungrouped Frequency Distribution
• Central Tendency and Variability
• The Median
• The Mean
• The Mode
• Comparisons of the Mean, Median, and Mode
• Measures of Variability
• The Meaning of Variability
• The Range
• The Variance and Standard Deviation
• Which Measure Is Best?
• 3 The Meaning and Application of Norms
• Norms Are Not Standards
• The Normal Distribution
• Many Measures Report Scores That Are Based on the Normal Curve
• Standard Scores Are Useful in Describing Performance
• z-Scores
• The T-Scale
• Stanines
• Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) Scores
• Norms Provide a Means of Comparison with a Reference Group
• A Representative Sample Is Needed for Accurate Norms
• Norms Should Be Relevant
• Norms Should Be Current
• 4 Test Validity
• Content Validity
• Criterion-Related Validity
• Correlation and Prediction (programmed)
• The Concept of Correlation
• Correlation and Scatterplots
• Interpreting Correlation Coefficients
• Correlation vs. Causation
• Influence of N
• Validity Coefficients
• Some Examples of Criterion-Related Validity
• Another Example of Predictive Validity
• How Large Does a Validity Coefficient Need to Be?
• Expectancy Tables
• Concurrent Validity
• Validity Consequences of the Reliability of the Criterion
• The Effect of Restricted Variability on Criterion-Related Validity
• Construct Validity
• 5 Test Reliability
• Errors of Measurement and Reliability
• Reliability and True Scores
• True Scores
• The Standard Error of Measurement
• The Standard Deviation and the Standard Error of Measurement
• Some Test Theory
• Index of Reliability vs. Reliability Coefficient
• Regression Toward the Mean
• Estimating True Scores from Observed Scores
• Test Length, Reliability, and The Spearman-Brown Prophecy Formula
• Test Length
• Estimating Reliability: The Test-Retest Method
• Parallel-Form Reliability
• The Split-Half Method
• Reliability via Internal Consistency
• Kuder-Richardson Formula 20
• Coefficient Alpha
• Kuder-Richardson Formula 21
• Speeded Tests
• What Is a High Reliability Coefficient?
• 6 Extraneous Factors that Influence Performance of Cognitive Tests
• Test Sophistication, Practice