What is assessment literacy? It is a handful of fundamental understandings about the testing concepts and procedures that influence educational decisions. And it just might be the most cost-effective means of real school improvement. With characteristic humor and aplomb, assessment expert W. James Popham strips away the psychometrician-speak and…

Students' affective status, provides an indication of the ways students are likely to act in the future. That is, students' current affective status foreshadows the ways children will act as "grown-ups" long after school is behind them. Clearly, educators should be concerned with the long-term impact of their instructional programs, so…

"U.S. students are being educated less well these days than they should be," writes W. James Popham. One key contributing factor is that educators often use the wrong tests to make their most important educational decisions. Two recent events have made it a perfect time to change the way we conduct our educational testing: growing…