The History of Educational Measurement collects essays on the most important topics in educational testing, measurement, and psychometrics. Authored by the field’s top scholars, this book offers unique historical viewpoints, from origins to modern applications, of formal testing programs and mental measurement theories. Topics as varied as large-scale testing, validity, item-response theory, federal involvement, and notable assessment controversies complete a survey of the field’s greatest challenges and most important achievements. Graduate students, researchers, industry professionals, and other stakeholders will find this volume relevant for years to come.

Validity is the hallmark of quality for educational and psychological measurement. But what does quality mean in this context? And to what, exactly, does the concept of validity apply? These apparently innocuous questions parachute the unwary inquirer into a minefield of tricky ideas. This book guides you through this minefield, investigating how the concept of validity has evolved from the nineteenth century to the present day. Communicating complicated concepts straightforwardly, the authors answer questions like: What does ′validity′ mean? What does it mean to ′validate′? How many different kinds of validity are there? When does validation begin and end? Is reliability a part of validity, or distinct from it? This book will be of interest to anyone with a professional or academic interest in evaluating the quality of educational or psychological assessments, measurements and diagnoses.

This book introduces and explores major topics in contemporary educational measurement: criterion-referenced testing, item response theory (IRT), computer-based testing, cross-lingual and cross-cultural assessment, and accountability testing. Psychometric experts describe forward-looking measurement practices and provide a contextualized understanding of how and why they were developed, how they can be used, and where they may go in the future. In addition to presenting key concepts and formulas, the volume covers established and emerging applications and discusses recurrent challenges that require additional research. A helpful glossary of abbreviations is included. The book is grounded in the work of Ronald K. Hambleton.

Educational Measurement has been the bible in its field since the first edition was published by ACE in 1951. The importance of this fourth edition of Educational Measurement is to extensively update and extend the topics treated in the previous three editions. As such, the fourth edition documents progress in the field and provides critical guidance to the efforts of new generations of researchers and practitioners. Edited by Robert Brennan and jointly sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Council on Measurement in Education, the fourth edition provides in-depth treatments of critical measurement topics, and the chapter authors are acknowledged experts in their respective fields. Educational measurement researchers and practitioners will find this text essential, and those interested in statistics, psychology, business, and economics should also find this work to be of very strong interest. Topics covered are divided into three subject areas: theory and general principles; construction, administration, and scoring; and applications. The first part of the book covers the topics of validation, reliability, item response theory, scaling and norming, linking and equating, test fairness, and cognitive psychology. Part two includes chapters on test development, test administration, performance assessment, setting performance standards, and technology in testing. The final section includes chapters on second language testing, testing for accountability in K-12 schools, standardized assessment of individual achievement in K-12 schools, higher education admissions testing, monitoring educational progress, licensure and certification testing, and legal and ethical issues.

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license.​​ This book describes the extensive contributions made toward the advancement of human assessment by scientists from one of the world’s leading research institutions, Educational Testing Service. The book’s four major sections detail research and development in measurement and statistics, education policy analysis and evaluation, scientific psychology, and validity. Many of the developments presented have become de-facto standards in educational and psychological measurement, including in item response theory (IRT), linking and equating, differential item functioning (DIF), and educational surveys like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Programme of international Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In addition to its comprehensive coverage of contributions to the theory and methodology of educational and psychological measurement and statistics, the book gives significant attention to ETS work in cognitive, personality, developmental, and social psychology, and to education policy analysis and program evaluation. The chapter authors are long-standing experts who provide broad coverage and thoughtful insights that build upon decades of experience in research and best practices for measurement, evaluation, scientific psychology, and education policy analysis. Opening with a chapter on the genesis of ETS and closing with a synthesis of the enormously diverse set of contributions made over its 70-year history, the book is a useful resource for all interested in the improvement of human assessment.