Filling in the Blanks: Putting Standardized Tests to the Test.

This booklet provides parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers with information about achievement testing which is relevant to their needs. The first section presents an overview of the current market for standardized achievement tests and provides key definitions, distinctions between ability and achievement testing, comparisons of norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, and standards-referenced testing, and examples of appropriate interpretations of norm-, criterion-, and standards-referenced test scores. The next section provides information on the most frequently-used standardized achievement tests: (1) California Achievement Test; (2) Stanford Achievement Test; (3) Metropolitan Achievement Test; (4) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills; (5) Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills; and (6) Terra Nova. The following section focuses on the uses and misuses of tests. This section describes how test information can be used by the various audiences, and summarizes cautionary information from professional guidelines and standards. The final section analyzes current issues and controversies in large-scale achievement testing and speculates about future trends and areas of concern. A section on "References and Resources" appears at the end and provides information that readers can use to contact test publishers and obtain test reviews and other information related to testing in U.S. schools. (Contains 12 figures, 3 tables, and 51 references.) (SLD)