Correcting Fallacies About Educational and Psychological Testing is a long overdue analysis of what is true and not true in the field of testing. Done correctly, for the right reasons, testing can be a most valuable tool. Richard P. Phelps and his team have greatly advanced the rigor of reporting real evidence in a field that should not be based on opinion. --The Honorable David P. Driscoll, former Commissioner of Education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The mythology surrounding testing is varied and vast. Too often, opinion trumps scholarship and advocacy distorts science. This timely book is required reading for all who seek straight talk about testing. --A. Jackson Stenner, PhD, CEO, MetaMetrics, Inc., Durham, NC
Standardized testing has been respected by academics yet criticized by the public for many years, and this book responds to the controversies surrounding test applications for the diagnosis, measurement and measuring of achievement. Editor Phelps has written and edited several books and scholarly journals, and he has enlisted the help of several measurement specialists to explore both sides of the public debate about standardized testing while offering suggestions for the improvement of testing practices. Written for policymakers, social scientists and scholars in education and psychology, this book also includes a glossary of testing terms. --Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
...an important addition to the literature regarding standardized testing in psychology and education. Correcting Fallacies presents a perspective on psychological and educational testing that needs to be presented to balance the debate. The text is appropriate for all in the fields of education, including school psychology, educational psychology, and higher education administration. It is also highly relevant to those in the fields of vocational rehabilitation, college admissions, and teacher education programs. I plan to recommend this book to many of my colleagues as a way of opening informed debate regarding the validity and necessity for educational testing. Throughout the text, sensitive subjects in the field of testing are discussed in a clear and concise manner. Topics such as heritability of intelligence, cultural bias of intelligence tests, socioeconomic factors in college admissions tests, and racial discrimination in job testing are handled in an objective and open fashion. --Christopher A. Was --PsycCRITIQUES
This book addresses virtually all the condemnations that typically are cited in a manner that would be understandable to a layperson while not compromising the quality of the content. Consequently, students and practitioners in the fields of the education and psychology are presented with an informed view of how testing is generally negatively perceived and shown where evidence exists to disprove the misperceptions. While it is commonplace for professionals in education and psychology to hear criticisms of testing, we often do not take the time to contemplate the origin of the criticism. Correcting Fallacies provides a persuasive, accessible and altogether unbiased view of testing, founded on empirical evidence rather than languishing in opinion. Correcting Fallacies covers a hot topic in a manner that is both thought-provoking and informative. --Caven S. Mcloughlin & Heather Doyle, Education Review
...functions as an intellectual vaccine, immunizing readers against intuitively plausible yet unsupported notions about testing. - Scott O. Lilienfeld & April D. Thames --Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, September, 2009
Review
This is an important and readable book that addresses many of the erroneous beliefs regarding educational and psychological assessment. It will be of interest to teachers, administrators, and policymakers to help them better understand the complexities involved in educational testing and how tests can be used to improve student learning.
Review
This is an important and readable book that addresses many of the erroneous beliefs regarding educational and psychological assessment. It will be of interest to teachers, administrators, and policymakers to help them better understand the complexities involved in educational testing and how tests can be used to improve student learning.
About the Author
Richard P. Phelps grew up in St. Louis, Missouri a few blocks from Route 66 and the Frisco Route main line. He received degrees from Washington, Indiana, and Harvard Universities, and a PhD from Penn's Wharton School. He taught secondary school mathematics in Burkina Faso (West Africa); worked at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, the U.S. General Accounting Office, Westat, and Indiana's Education Department; is author or editor of four books, several statistical compendia, and dozens of articles in scholarly journals.
