Principles of Testing

• Psychological test


  Is essentially an objective and standardized measure of a sample behavior, or an educational test is a set of items designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertains to behavior
• Psychological testing


  Psychological assessment
• Educational test


  Pertain to certain type of tests which are specifically developed for use in educational contexts, predominantly at the elementary and high school levels
• Neuropsychological tests


  Attempt to measure deficits in cognitive functioning (i.e., your ability to think, speak, reason, etc) that may result from sort of brain damage, such as stroke or a brain injury
• Standardized test


  Was constructed by professional test makers and administered to a representative sample of people from the population for which the test is intended, has fixed procedures for administration and scoring that are constant across different examinees
• Non-standardized test


  Usually constructed in an informal manner by a teacher
• Norms


  Serve as a basis for interpreting the scores of people who take the test later, is the normal or average performance
• Cognitive tests


  Attempt to quantify the process and products of mental activity and may be classified as measures of achievement and aptitude
• Affective tests


  Are designed to assess interests, attitudes, values, motives, temperament traits and other noncognitive characteristics of personality
• Achievement test


  Assesses knowledge of some academic subject or occupation, focuses on the examinee's past behavior (on what he/she had already learned or accomplished)
• Aptitude


  Focuses on future behavior, that is what a person is capable of learning with appropriate training
• Personality test


  Measure the person's overt and covert dispositions of the individual
• Norm reference test


  A test whose scores are interpreted with respect to norms obtained from a representative sample of examinees
• Criterion reference test


  A test that has been designed with very restricted content specifications to serve a limited range of highly specific purpose
• Testwiseness


  Techniques other than the knowledge of the test materials, employed by examinees to enhance their scores
• Purposes and Uses of Tests

  • Evaluate behavior, cognitive abilities, personality traits, and other individual and group characteristics in order to assist in making judgment, predictions and decisions about people
• Specific Uses of Tests

  • Screen applicants for jobs and educational and training program
  • Classify and place people in educational and employment context
  • Counsel and guide individuals for educational, vocational, and personal counseling purposes
  • Retain or dismiss, promote, and rotate students, or employees in educational training programs and in on-the-job situations
  • Diagnose and prescribes psychological and physical treatments in clinics and hospitals
  • Evaluate cognitive, interpersonal changes due to educational, psychotherapeutic and other behavior intervention programs
  • Conduct research on changes in behavior overtime and evaluate the effectiveness of new programs or techniques
• Three Reasons for Using Psychological Test


  • It is easier to get information from tests than by clinical interview
  • The information from tests is more scientifically consistent than the information from a clinical interview
  • It is harder to get away with lying on a test than in a clinical interview
• Principles of Effective Test Use

  • Maintain the security of testing materials before and after testing
  • Avoid labeling individuals based on a single test score
  • Adhere strictly to the copyright law and under no circumstance photocopy or otherwise reproduce answer forms, test books, or manuals
  • Administer and score tests exactly as specified in the manual
  • Release test results only to authorized persons and in a form in keeping with accepted principles of test interpretation
• Ethical Principles in Interpretation and Diagnosis

  • The application of scientific procedures in designing and selecting tests and techniques that are appropriate for specific populations
  • Judicious interpretation of test results
  • Careful use of test scoring and interpretation services
  • Clear but careful explanation of assessment findings
• What Counselor Must Do?

  • The characteristics of its standardization sample
  • The types and degree of its reliability and validity
  • The reliability and validity of comparable tests
  • The scoring procedures
  • The method of administration
  • The limitations and its strengths
• Objections to Use of Tests

  • Encourages client dependency
  • Prejudice the picture of an individual
  • Invalid and unreliable
  • Culturally biased
  • Measure irrelevant skills
  • Used mechanically
  • Invade privacy
  • Can be faked
  • Foster undesirable competition
• Functions of Tests


  • Decision Making
  • Self-understanding
  • Counselor understanding of person's behavior and problems
  • Assessment of the person competencies
  • Prediction of Future Performance
  • Stimulate New Interests
  • Counseling Evaluation
• Counselor Requirements for Test Use

  • Skill in practice and knowledge of theory
  • Thorough understanding of testing theory, techniques of test construction, test reliability and validity
  • Knowledge of sampling techniques, norms and statistics
• Assessment


  Is an ongoing process of gathering information that can be used to better understand the educational needs of the students. It uses various informal or formal techniques to carry out in-depth observation in an effort to pinpoint each child's skills and deficits
• Purpose of Assessment


  • To identify the child's skills, behaviors, and repertoires
  • It allows the teacher to know where the child should be placed in the curriculum and exactly what behaviors should be taught
• The Role of the Teacher

  • To observe children in a variety of situations so as to develop an individualized instructional program required for each handicapped child. Observation may be done with the help of standardized (formal) or informal teacher-made techniques of measurement
• Evaluation


  Is a vital process of making value judgments as to whether or not an instructional program produced the desired results
• Purposes of Evaluation


  • To collect evaluative information that is used as the basis for ongoing program decision making
  • To provide evaluative information for external support agencies such as the Office of Special Education, etc
• Types of Evaluation


  • Formative evaluation is conducted periodically throughout the instructional unit, course, semester or year to monitor progress and provide feedback concerning progress toward learning goals
  • Summative evaluation is conducted at the end of an instructional unit or semester to judge the final quality and quantity of student achievement and/or the success of the instructional program
• The Role of the Teacher


  • To plan the procedures of evaluation at the beginning of a program to ensure ease of information gathering and to avoid the hazard of gathering data that are not relevant to the instructional program
• Three-fold responsibility of teachers who teach handicapped children

  • The obligation to be able to recognize the existence of or potential for special needs that were not identified previously
  • The continuous assessment of each child's strengths and weaknesses to establish appropriate objectives and to provide developmental and/or remedial instruction
  • The determination of the adequacy of each child's progress
• Knowledge of normal development is critical


  • The teacher should be aware of the behavior normally manifested by children to recognize special education needs. He/she should know the ages at which specific development is expected
• Unusual behaviors of children who need help

  • Overreacting to failure
  • Resisting to new experiences
  • Apparent lack of motivation to learn
  • Failure to exhibit enjoyment of problem solving
  • Lack of willingness to accept direction and correction
  • Lack of age-appropriate self-discipline