"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 dissatisfaction with consortia-built tests and a new focus on the proposed use of a test in the revised Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Popham urges the adoption of purposeful educational assessment, a measurement approach in which tests are built and appraised according to their one primary purpose, be it to compare student test scores, improve instruction and learning, or evaluate learning. "The primary purpose of a particular educational test," writes Popham, "should dominate the decision making of those who are building the test as well as those who are evaluating it." The author suggests several actions that educators can take to bring about more purposeful educational assessment.