Tests and Assessment

Preface This fourth edition of the book, like the preceding three editions, has two basic assumptions. The first assumption is that assessment is apt to be more sound if based upon meaningful--that is, reliable and valid--information. Second, assessment skills may be developed by improving one's knowledge of tests used to gather meaningful information about people and environments. Thus, in a practical sense a primary objective of this book is to help students develop some assessment skills and improve their knowledge about assessment techniques and tests. The general rationale of the book is that human behavior tends to be influenced by many determinants, both in the person and in the environment. Therefore, within this framework it is our belief that any assessment of the person is incomplete without some assessment of the environment. People clearly affect and change environments and situations, but at the same time we cannot ignore the fact that environments, like people, have personalities and influence behavior. Thus, within this context our book focuses on theory and assessment techniques used to assess and understand the person, the environment, and behavior. The past years have been a period of significant advances in psychological and educational testing. Advances in theory, practice, and professional responsibility reflect rapid growth in the field. This fourth edition ofTests and Assessmentattempts to reflect this growth by contributing to a more intelligent understanding and use of psychological and educational tests and assessment. This edition updates and expands content areas in an effort to make the book more meaningful and useful for teachers, practitioners, and students in the field. The most profound revisions were made in Chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14. Chapter 1 (The History and Meaning of Assessment) was revised to include more elaborate discussion of the DSM-IV, discussion of cross-cultural assessment and standards of equivalence, and an updating of historical events and recent significant tests that have been developed. In Chapter 3 (Reliability, Validity, and Test Construction) computer administered adaptive tests received increased attention and the discussion of effect size and interpreting the differences between scores was expanded. Chapter 4 (Objective Personality Assessment) was updated to include extensive revisions to the California Psychological Inventory, the Comrey Personality Scales, the Jackson Personality Inventory, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, and the NEO Personality Inventory (revised). In Chapter 6 (The Nature and Assessment of Intelligence) revisions of the WAIS-R (now WAIS-III), Otis Lennon School Ability Test, Raven Progressive Matrices, and the Culture Fair Intelligence Test are presented and discussed. In addition, the theoretical work of Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligence); John Carroll, Richard Snow, and Robert Sternburg (Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence); and Philip Ackerman (Model of Adult Intellectual Development) are discussed. Also, updated research on cognitive psychological theories, neurological/biological theories, and research in genetics is presented. In Chapter 7 (The Assessment of Aptitudes) revised and updated descriptions of the ACT Assessment, Scholastic Aptitude Tests, Graduate Record Examination, Miller Analogies Test, General Aptitude Test Battery, and Multidimensional Aptitude Battery are discussed and descriptions of computer administered versions of the DAT-Adaptive and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery are presented. Chapter 8 (The Assessment of Achievement) presents recent revisions of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, Stanford Achievement Series, Iowa Tests of Educational Development, Wonderlic Basic SkiBetz, Nancy E. is the author of 'Tests and Assessment', published 2000 under ISBN 9780130959478 and ISBN 0130959472.