INTERPRETING AND USING STANDARDIZED TESTS IN THE 70’S - A VIEW FROM ONE MAN'S MOUNTAINTOP - INTERPRETING AND USING STANDARDIZED TESTS

Sep 16, 2026

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Interpreting and using standardized tests in the 1970s is discussed through a perspective focused on how school change affects test results and their meaning. The text links upheaval in school organization and curriculum with the need for relevant information under varied conditions. It outlines major movements—ungraded schooling, programmed instruction, computer-aided instruction, open schools, reading-focused research, and criterion-referenced tests—and explains how national assessment programs evaluate learning efficiently.

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INTERPRETING AND USING STANDARDIZED TESTS IN THE 70’S - A VIEW FROM ONE MAN'S MOUNTAINTOP

Factors Affecting Total Population Norms

An Evaluation of the Present Status of Achievement and Tests of School Learning Potential

# INTERPRETING AND USING STANDARDIZED TESTSIN THE 70’SA VIEW FROM ONE MAN'S MOUNTAINTOP Walter N.Durost University of New Hampshire This is a period of upheaval in the schools.Many things aregoing on to change the character of the schools with respect toschool organization and administration as well as the curriculum.We must be prepared to meet the challenge of these changes byproviding relevant kinds of information for interpreting testresults under all easily imagined conditions.Perhaps it would behelpful to list a few of these changes which gradually are takingplace around the country # Factors Affecting Total Population Norms 1.The ungraded school movement for which Goodlad was theinitial champion and which was initally limited to the primarygrades is now spreading up through the grades.More and morethis is being thought of as a system for individually prescribedcurricula which may follow the general pattern or hierarchy whichall other students will follow but which does provide the opportu-nity for the student to move ahead at his own pace. 2.Programmed instruction began to become popular in the verylate fifties and early sixties.It essentially was not a new idea butit was thought that we had reached a stage where mechanical orelectronic gadgetry might make it more feasible.Even theprogrammed textbook was considered to be a giant step forwardin instruction aiming toward the freeing of the individual frombeing bound to a class group with whom he was not compatible.This did not prove to gain as wide acceptance as its proponentsclaimed but it is not a dead horse by any means.Programmedinstruction involving slides and cassettes and various other visualaids is very much a part of the curriculum and organization ofeducation at the junior college level especially and there is reasonto believe it will persist and have a greater impact at the lowerechelons when adequate materials are developed. 124 3.Computer aided instruction is programmed instruction at itsultimate in many respects.The computer can actually branchfrom the pupil's wrong response and suggest ways in which hecan correct his errors and make progress toward the desired goal.This,however.like programmed instruction imposes a hierarchywhich may be simply an artifact growing out of the logicalinalysis or psychological analysis of the content by the personpreparing the program. It often leaves little room for realindividual exploration and unfettered thinking. However.itwould be unwise for us to ignore the value of computer aidedinstruction even though the concensus of those who are mostdeeply concerned with this is that the time is not ripe for it.(See Harvard Review,Fall 1968.) 4.The concept of the open school,which,in a sense.accom-panied and grew out of some of the earlier movements toindividualize instruction,is gaining ground very rapidly for somerather strange reasons.An open school is one in which thephysical environment is such that pupils may move freely fromplace to place(we can hardly say room to room because thereare no rooms;there may be partitions which isolate learning sta-tions so-called.)Under this plan,a student may be working in set-eral different learning stations during the course of the day.depending upon his level of development. 5.Reading,as the central concern of education has been stimu-lated tremendously by the U.S.Office of Education.Researchcenters are being established in universities around the countryto explore what we know about the teaching of reading and toplan innovative programs so that within a few years no individualwillleave school without an adequate mastery of essential read-ing skills. 6.Another new movement threatens to raise a lot of dust.itnot more substance,namely,the drive toward criterion refer-ence tests. There is much talk of criterion reference tests.testing.or test interpretation.The criterion reference test callsfor the complete mastery of an item or skill that is consideredto be essential for

FAQs

为什么在70年代需要重新理解标准化测验的使用方式？

学校在组织、管理与课程方面发生多项变革，使得测验结果的解释需要配套的、能够适应各种情境的信息。

文中提到哪些影响总人口常模的教育变革？

包括非分级学校运动、程序化教学、计算机辅助教学、开放式学校、阅读研究的推动，以及向标准参照测验（criterion reference tests）的发展。

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM的独特之处是什么？

每位被测者只回答少量问题，但通过在同一学科领域使用多种题本与形式，可在最少学生用时内覆盖多方面成就证据。

Sep 16, 2026

Uploaded by Tawan