Measuring up : what educational testing really tells us

Summary: "Measuring Up demystifies educational testing from MCAS to SAT to WAIS, with all the alphabet soup in between. Bringing statistical terms down to earth, Daniel Koretz takes readers through the most fundamental issues that arise in educational testing and shows how they apply to some of the most controversial issues in education today, from high-stakes testing to special education. He walks readers through everyday examples to show what tests do well, what their limits are, how easily tests and scores can be oversold or misunderstood, and how they can be used sensibly to help discover how much kids have learned."--BOOK JACKET.

Record details

ISBN: 9780674028050 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 0674028058 (cloth : alk. paper)
Physical Description: print
353 p. : ill., maps ; 22 cm.
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2008.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-343) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. If Only It Were So Simple -- 2. What Is a Test? -- 3. What We Measure: Just How Good Is the Sample? -- 4. The Evolution of American Testing -- 5. What Test Scores Tell Us about American Kids -- 6. What Influences Test Scores, or How Not to Pick a School -- 7. Error and Reliability: How Much We Don't Know What We're Talking About -- 8. Reporting Performance: Standards and Scales -- 9. Validity -- 10. Inflated Test Scores -- 11. Adverse Impact and Bias -- 12. Testing Students with Special Needs -- 13. Sensible Uses of Tests.