[IPAC-List] Testing Education

[Jeff Feuquay]

Mark, Thank you for continuing to remind us we operate in real time  
and real life, regardless of how many SPSS or SAS runs went before any  
particular public impact we have. It is sobering the effect our niche  
has on lives. J

Jeff Feuquay, Psychologist-Attorney
Special Counsel to Russell, Brown & Breckenridge LLC
and CPS Supernumerary
PO Drawer J
Nevada, Mo 64772
Phone: 417.549.0997

Sent from iPhone.

On Nov 22, 2009, at 8:39 PM, "Mark Hammer" <Mark.Hammer at psc-cfp.gc.ca>  
wrote:


> It's not so much educated about tests, as much as educated about  

> testing

> process, sometimes.  As for "by whom?", slipping a useful phrase or  

> two

> into the test administrators instruction sheet and script couldn't  

> hurt.

>

> We're in a rut when it comes to test instructions and the scripts we  

> hand

> administrators.  We need to get out of it.  Testees need to be able  

> to think

> of us as being on their side, not merely another instance of the  

> teacher

> they remember who took immense pride in failing everyone.

>

> Our job is to help employers and candidates find a match.  People  

> deserve

> to be in jobs where they thrive, employers deserve to hire people  

> who will

> be terrific AND happy in the job, and tests are in service of that.   

> Call me a

> hopeless idealist, but that message needs to get out there more often.

>

> And not just in the employment context but in the education context  

> too.

> The goal of any test I might apply in a class is to find out if what  

> I'm trying

> to get across to students is making it through, and for students to  

> confirm

> for themselves that their subjective impression of learning is  

> substantiated

> by objective evidence.

>

> If a test is "biased", it is telling you you're not good enough when  

> possibly

> you are.  If a test is inaccurate, it is telling you that there are  

> things you

> can do that maybe you can't, or that you can't do things that maybe  

> you

> can.  When it comes to the resentment and paranoia many people have

> about tests, they arrive at that view because they think purely in  

> terms

> of "bias", and rarely in terms of the value to themselves of an  

> accurate

> assessment.  Maybe if we broached the whole topic in terms of  

> achieving

> a win-win match, instead of pitching tests as if they are intended  

> to keep

> out the riff-riff, we'd meet with less hostility in a less  

> adversarial arena.

>

> Mark

>

>>>> "Dennis Doverspike " <dd1 at uakron.edu> 11/22/09 11:43 AM >>>

> Educated - by whom? One of my great fears regarding testing, is that  

> the

> problem is getting worse rather than better. Due to standardized  

> testing

> pressures in the schools, from 1st grade on, or even before, school  

> children

> are now being taught by their teachers that tests are bad, unfair,  

> do not

> assess knowledge, and are otherwise full of testing tricks. The  

> situation

> does not get better when students get to college, in Introduction to

> Psychology classes, students are taught about the evils of testing  

> including

> the inherent biases against most cultures. The government can point  

> to SIOP

> members and argue that there is no consensus that ability tests are  

> really

> valid and free of bias, even if one could argue there is as much  

> consensus

> as there is in the medical community regarding drugs or surgeries.

>

> My esteemed colleague Winfred Arthur often asks the question as to  

> whether

> if a test could be 100% accurate, would people want to use it or see  

> the

> result? I fear we know how most people would answer that question.

>

> We have met the enemy - and it is testing.

>

> Of course, this problem is not limited to psychological tests for  

> employment

> purposes. People often cheat or fake on clinical psychology tests,  

> usually

> to fake bad rather than good (and see for example the huge controversy

> recently over the release of the Rorschach ok Wikipedia). People  

> cheat on

> drug tests. People cheat on medical exams.

>

> And believe it or not, I am an optimist regarding human nature.

>

> Dennis Doverspike

>

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