U.S. Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is a set of testing standards developed jointly by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).

Revised significantly from the 1985 version, the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has more in-depth background material in each chapter, a greater number of standards, and a significantly expanded glossary and index. The new Standards reflects changes in United States federal law and measurement trends affecting validity; testing individuals with disabilities or different linguistic backgrounds; and new types of tests as well as new uses of existing tests. The Standards is written for the professional and for the educated layperson and addresses professional and technical issues of test development and use in education, psychology and employment.

Part I: Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation
1. Validity 2. Reliability and Errors of Measurement 3. Test Development and Revision 4. Scales, Norms, and Score Comparability 5. Test Administration, Scoring, and Reporting 6. Supporting Documentation for Tests

Part II: Fairness in Testing
7. Fairness in Testing and Test Use 8. The Rights and Responsibilities of Test Takers 9. Testing Individuals of Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds 10. Testing Individuals with Disabilities

Part III: Testing Applications
11. The Responsibilities of Test Users 12. Psychological Testing and Assessment 13. Educational Testing and Assessment 14. Testing in Employment and Credentialing 15. Testing in Program Evaluation and Public Policy

Related standards
In 1974, the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation was charged with the responsibility of writing a companion volume to the 1974 revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests. This companion volume was to deal with issues and standards for program and curriculum evaluation in education. In 1975, the Joint Committee began work and ultimately decided to establish three separate sets of standards. These standards include The Personnel Evaluation Standards, The Program Evaluation Standards, and The Student Evaluation Standards.

Notes and references

 * 1)  The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
 * 2)  American Educational Research Association. (1977, September 12). Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation Update--September 1977. AERA Division H Newsletter.