Re: Norm-Referenced Tests

["Gerald W. Bracey" <gbracey@EROLS.COM>]

I've never seen Vito's book, but I think Hoffman's is too dated and, really,
not aimed at what you want.  The book is really mistitled as I recall.  It
should have been "The Tyranny of the Multiple Choice Question."  Hoffman
worried that really bright kids could see through the tester's game and pick
the wrong answers for right reasons.  He missed the problem of discimination
against poor kids and minorities entirely.  The testing world has changed a
lot since 1962.

But really, you don't need much more than this:

"With all, it was now clear that among say eight kids, all supposed to be
reading at 4.5-4.8 reading level, making errors A, B and D, (but not C),
there were in fact eight kids some of whom were reading all kinds of stuff,
some who would only read the newspaper, some who would only read Mad
magazine  (or look at it anyway), and some who wouldn't read anything at
all.
Thus the test could only mean something if you never looked at the kids
themselves."

James Herndon
How to Survive in Your Native Land, 1971




----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Harman <susanharman@IGC.ORG>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 1:04 AM
Subject: Re: Norm-Referenced Tests


> Debby writes
> > In the 1970s there were a bunch of
> >excellent books critiquing standardized testing and the psychometric
model
> >upon which it is based.  We need to reprint some of them.
> Which would you choose? Id pick Banesh Hoffman's Tyranny of Testing, for
> starters. Then Vitos little black and orange booklet. And...
>
> Susan Harman
> High stakes are for tomatoes.
>
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