Although originally designed as instruments to gauge students¿ progress, tests eventually were used to modify curricula, learning materials, pedagogy, and many practical features of schooling. Tests were employed to shape attitudes toward national issues such as employment, immigration, and defense. Worried about the enormous consequences that were at stake, advocates and opponents pitched their cases to educators, parents, journalists, and policymakers and also targeted special audiences. Testing proponents pleaded with military leaders, businesspeople, and scholastic publishers while their adversaries appealed to job seekers, college applicants, racial minorities, and anti-establishmentarians. This book illustrates how all of these parties showed interest; many became passionate; and some decisively influenced the course of American educational testing. Although originally designed as instruments to gauge students' progress, tests eventually were used to modify curricula, learning materials, pedagogy, and many practical features of schooling. Tests were employed to shape attitudes toward national issues such as employment, immigration, and defense. Worried about the enormous consequences that were at stake, advocates and opponents pitched their cases to educators, parents, journalists, and policymakers and also targeted special audiences. Testing proponents pleaded with military leaders, businesspeople, and scholastic publishers while their adversaries appealed to job seekers, college applicants, racial minorities, and anti-establishmentarians. This book illustrates how all of these parties showed interest; many became passionate; and some decisively influenced the course of American educational testing. List of Illustrations xi Preface xv Acknowledgments xix Scientists Nurture Testing 1(22) Science Influences Behavioral Studies 1(2) Formats for Intelligence Test 3(9) Additional Pretexts for Assessing Intelligence 6(1) Assessing Comprehension 6(1) Assessing Associational Ability 7(1) Assessing Creativity 8(2) Assessing the Ability to Make Judgments 10(1) Assessing the Ability to Define 11(1) Assessing Decoding Proficiency 11(1) Weaknesses of Mental Tests 12(6) Accelerated Attacks on Mental Tests 14(2) Response to Criticism 16(2) Transition to Education 18(4) Summary 22(1) Educators Adapt to Standardized Tests 23(32) Subjectively Graded Exams 23(6) Pioneers of Objective Educational Tests 29(2) Academic Tests Proliferate 31(15) Reading Tests 32(8) History Tests 40(3) Other Specialized Academic Tests 43(2) Specialized University Exams 45(1) Criticism of Educational Testing 46(4) Responding to Criticism 50(3) Summary 53(2) Military Backing for Tests 55(30) Tests Reveal a National Crisis 55(2) History of Military Tests 57(18) The Alpha Test 58(3) The Beta Test 61(1) Other Military Tests 62(11) Curtailing Military Testing 73(2) Objections to Military Tests 75(3) Implications for Education 78(6) Universities Use Military Tests 80(4) Summary 84(1) Entrepreneurs Create an Industry 85(32) Expanding Markets 85(4) Bibliographies of Tests 88(1) Expense and Income 89(9) Profits From Early Tests 92(6) Vocational Tests 98(16) Testing for General Vocational Aptitude 102(4) Testing for Specialized Vocational Aptitude 106(8) Objections to Vocational Tests 114(1) Summary 115(2) Early Twentieth-Century Politicians Embrace Testing 117(24) Politicizing Assessment of Students 117(3) Conflict Between Political Conservatives and Liberals 120(2) Politicizing Assessment of Teachers 122(8) Product-Based Assessment 124(2) Content-Based Assessment 126(2) Rating Scales 128(2) Progressive Educators Defy Objective Tests 130(9) Progressive Educators Propose Alternatives 132(4) Progressive Educators Assess Teachers 136(3) Summary 139(2) Charges of Racism 141(26) Early Allegations of Test-Based Racism 141(5) Opposition From Civil Rights Advocates 146(11) Testing Advocates Rejoin 157(9) Summary 166(1) Continuing Criticism 167(26) Allegations of Test Abuse 167(6) Public Disclosure Legislation 173(3) Spewing Vitriol at the Educational Testing Service 176(4) Vocational Testing 180(2) Testing Prevails 182(9) Summary 191(2) Conservatives Reap the Harvest 193(32) Liberal Politicians During the 1960s 193(3) Liberal Scholars During the 1960s 196(3) Staunch Support From Conservatives 199(16) Report of a Nation in Jeopardy 202(8) Continuing to Emphasize Assessment of Teachers 210(5) Resistance From Post-1960s Liberals 215(8) Summary 223(2) Postscript. Unrelenting Growth of the Testing Industry 225(12) References 237(38) Author Index 275(10) Subject Index 285