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TITLE:
A Brief History of Attempts To Monitor Testing. NBETPP Statements, Volume 2, Number 2.

DOCUMENT TYPE: Report

Link to Document: A Brief History of Attempts To Monitor Testing. NBETPP Statements, Volume 2, Number 2.

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ABSTRACT:
This paper provides a brief history of attempts to monitor testing in the United States. It describes proposals for monitoring from the first attempts in the 1920s to similar proposals in the 1990s. The discussion focuses on: (1) Giles Ruche's proposal for a consumer research bureau on tests; (2) Oscar K. Burros' reviews of tests and efforts to establish a more active test monitoring agency; (3) the call of the American Psychological Association for a Bureau of Test Standards and a Seal of Approval; (4) the Project on the Classification of Exceptional Children's recommendation for a National Bureau of Standards for Psychological Tests and Testing; and (5) the efforts of various professional organizations to establish standards for test development and use. The concept of monitoring tests and the impact of testing programs has a long history, but was not translated into practice until the formation in 1998 of the National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy. The National Board has finally begun the process of independently monitoring tests and testing programs that has been called for since the 1920s. (Contains 28 endnotes.) (SLD)