Toward a New Science of Educational Testing and Assessment

By Fred M. Newmann and Harold Berlak

The authors of this book question the assumptions of the psychometric paradigm that underlie virtually all criterion-referenced and standardized tests used in North American schools. They make a compelling case for a new science of educational testing and assessment, one that shifts decision making from central administration to individual schools and communities.

Harold Berlak argues that the concept of tests as scientific instruments validated by technical experts is anachronistic and self-contradictory. He makes a case for a contextual paradigm, an approach which assumes that consensus on educational goals and national testing programs is neither possible nor desireable. Assessment practices in a democratic society must acknowledge and affirm differences in values, beliefs, and material interests among individuals and groups over the purposes and practices of schooling.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791408787
• ISBN13: 9780791408780
• Release Date: February 1992
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 235 Pages
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Serious Look at School Reform

I am a future educator who reccommends this book to all people involved in the educational system. It is filled with intuitive ideas that should be recognized and credited for all that they can be, if they were to be implemented. The authors use common sense approaches that are often neglected in schools. Our educational system really needs to be reformed and changed in order to successfully educate our children. The ideas presented in this book could help do just that.