Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
Encyclopedia
The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is a set of testing standards
developed jointly by the American Educational Research Association
(AERA), American Psychological Association
(APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).
Revised significantly from the 1985 version, the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has more in-depth background material in each chapter, a greater number of standards, and a significantly expanded glossary and index. The 1999 version Standards reflects changes in United States
federal law
and measurement
trends affecting validity
; testing individuals with disabilities
or different linguistic backgrounds
; and new types of tests as well as new uses of existing tests. The Standards is written for the professional and for the educated layperson and addresses professional and technical issues of test development and use in education
, psychology
and employment
. The Standards are currently under review once again. A revised version is expected to be published some time after 2012.
2. Reliability
and Errors of Measurement
3. Test Development and Revision
4. Scales, Norms, and Score Comparability
5. Test Administration, Scoring, and Reporting
6. Supporting Documentation for Tests
in Testing and Test Use
8. The Right
s and Responsibilities
of Test Takers
9. Testing Individuals of Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds
10. Testing Individuals with Disabilities
12. Psychological Testing and Assessment
13. Educational Testing and Assessment
14. Testing in Employment
and Credentialing
15. Testing in Program Evaluation
and Public Policy
was charged with the responsibility of writing a companion volume to the 1974 revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests. This companion volume was to deal with issues and standards for program
and curriculum
evaluation
in education
. In 1975, the Joint Committee began work and ultimately decided to establish three separate sets of standards. These standards include The Personnel Evaluation Standards, The Program Evaluation Standards, and The Student Evaluation Standards.
Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization , or standards setting organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are...
developed jointly by the American Educational Research Association
American Educational Research Association
The American Educational Research Association, or AERA, was founded in 1916 as a professional organization representing educational researchers in the United States and around the world....
(AERA), American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).
Revised significantly from the 1985 version, the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has more in-depth background material in each chapter, a greater number of standards, and a significantly expanded glossary and index. The 1999 version Standards reflects changes in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal law
Federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
and measurement
Measurement
Measurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
trends affecting validity
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
; testing individuals with disabilities
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
or different linguistic backgrounds
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
; and new types of tests as well as new uses of existing tests. The Standards is written for the professional and for the educated layperson and addresses professional and technical issues of test development and use in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
. The Standards are currently under review once again. A revised version is expected to be published some time after 2012.
Part I: Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation
1. ValidityValidity (statistics)
In science and statistics, validity has no single agreed definition but generally refers to the extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and corresponds accurately to the real world. The word "valid" is derived from the Latin validus, meaning strong...
2. Reliability
Reliability (statistics)
In statistics, reliability is the consistency of a set of measurements or of a measuring instrument, often used to describe a test. Reliability is inversely related to random error.-Types:There are several general classes of reliability estimates:...
and Errors of Measurement
3. Test Development and Revision
4. Scales, Norms, and Score Comparability
5. Test Administration, Scoring, and Reporting
6. Supporting Documentation for Tests
Part II: Fairness in Testing
7. FairnessJustice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
in Testing and Test Use
8. The Right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
s and Responsibilities
Moral responsibility
Moral responsibility usually refers to the idea that a person has moral obligations in certain situations. Disobeying moral obligations, then, becomes grounds for justified punishment. Deciding what justifies punishment, if anything, is a principle concern of ethics.People who have moral...
of Test Takers
9. Testing Individuals of Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
10. Testing Individuals with Disabilities
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
Part III: Testing Applications
11. The Responsibilities of Test Users12. Psychological Testing and Assessment
Psychological testing
Psychological testing is a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to assess psychological construct, such as cognitive and emotional functioning, about a given individual. The technical term for the science behind psychological testing is psychometrics...
13. Educational Testing and Assessment
14. Testing in Employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
and Credentialing
Professional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
15. Testing in Program Evaluation
Program evaluation
Project evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency...
and Public Policy
Standardized testing and public policy
Standardized testing is used as a public policy strategy to establish stronger accountability measures for public education. While the National Assessment of Education Progress has served as an educational barometer for some thirty years by administering standardized tests on a regular basis to...
Related standards
In 1974, the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational EvaluationJoint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation
The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation is an American/Canadian based Standards Developer Organization . The Joint Committee represents a coalition of major professional associations formed in 1975 to help improve the quality of standardized evaluation. The Committee has thus...
was charged with the responsibility of writing a companion volume to the 1974 revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests. This companion volume was to deal with issues and standards for program
Program evaluation
Project evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency...
and curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
evaluation
Evaluation
Evaluation is systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards.Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice,...
in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. In 1975, the Joint Committee began work and ultimately decided to establish three separate sets of standards. These standards include The Personnel Evaluation Standards, The Program Evaluation Standards, and The Student Evaluation Standards.