The power structure of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the validity of its tests are examined. The test format, purposes, costs, and rankings and the potential reform of the ETS are discussed. (JD)

Career guidance testing should clarify options for career exploration, claim the authors. They suggest three criteria for tests used in career counseling, note recent applications of the criteria in commercially available tests, and advocate use of the "Counselor's Guide to Vocational Guidance Instruments" by guidance personnel seeking suitable…

Summarizes the Ralph Nader report on the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Tests reviewed include preschool, elementary, high school, and college admission; equivalency; financial aid; placement; and graduate school admission. The conclusion is that ETS has an overwhelming economic and political interest in maintaining the current testing system.…

Test validity, coaching, the college admissions process, and achievement tests are discussed by the director of the Iowa Testing Programs. Data published on the SAT are examined. It is suggested that systematic instruction in problem-solving skills may improve not only test performance but also skills the test is designed to assess. (Author/MLW)

Presents a model for testing in individualized adult programs which includes aptitude, placement, achievement, and proficiency measurements. The model calls for measurement of discrete-point knowledge as well as the communicative ability and cultural insights of students. The kind and detail of record-keeping are discussed. (Author/AMH)

A parent's perspective on testing and the U.S. educational system and on how today's society values quality and achievement is presented. Uninformed parental expectation and less informed, less dedicated, and less imaginative teaching are seen as resulting in diplomas awarded for attendance, automatic passing of students, and deterioration of…

This paper summarizes some of the issues involved in educational testing. First, it describes four of the fundamental characteristics of tests: whether they are measures of aptitude or achievement, whether they require students to produce or just recognize the best answer, whether they are interpreted in relationship to the scores of other…

Although by traditional measures of test validity, the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is not culture biased, it, along with the English Composition Test and the Test of Standard Written English, reinforces a narrow view of academic excellence that excludes culturally different youths. Designed to prevent admission errors, the…

Proceedings are presented of the 1979 meeting of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which includes speeches on outcomes assessment along with the business meeting of the Association. In the keynote address, "Outcomes Assessment--A New Era in Accreditation," Howard R. Bowen identifies goals an educational institution…