Issues in Achievement Testing.

ABSTRACT This'booklet is intended'to help school personnel, parents, students, and members of the.commuility understand concepts and.research relating to achievement testing in public schools. The paper's sections-include: .(1) test use with direct effects on students (test of certification, selection, and placement); (2) test use (Fith indirect effects on students (making judgments concerning the A4uality of an instructional program or the teaching staff, or to^ validate the worth of a curriculum or specific practices); (3) criterion-referenced tests (tests that provide am estimate or approximation of how much a student khows about a subject); (4) technical features of teSts (test validity, setting standards, test reliability, and test bias); (5) test use (principles to guide school use of teste); and (6) activism and testing (a strategy to help teachers, school administrators, and parents question informatibn not conveyed in common lanugage). (PN)