Chapter 1

History of Testing and Assessment

1

Testing Vs. Assessment

Assessment includes a broad array of evaluation procedures, such as: Personality Testing:

Objective Projective Interest Inventories

Ability Testing:

Achievement Aptitude

Informal Assessment:

Records and Personal Documents Classification Techniques Observation Rating Scales

The Clinical Interview

2

Historical Context: Ancient

 2200 B.C. Chinese used essay examinations for civil service employees  Plato (428 – 327 B.C.E) noted:  Greeks assessed intellectual and physical ability of men when screening for state service 3

Historical Context: Precursors to Modern-Day

 Esquirol (1830's).  Used language ability to identify intelligence.

 Retardation on continuum: “idiocy” to low grade normals.  Forerunner of verbal intelligence testing.

 Seguin (1800's).  Worked with mentally retarded to increase motor control and sensory discrimination.

 Developed “Form board.”  Forerunner of performance intelligence testing.

4

Historical Context: Precursors to Modern-Day

Understanding uniqueness of the humans:   Darwin (mid 1800s):  Theory of evolution.  Set tone for others who followed Galton : (late 1800s, Darwin’s cousin)  English biologist who examined differences in sensory motor activities.

  Wundt (1879).  Founded 1st psychological laboratory.  Looked at sensitivity to visual, auditory, and other sensory stimuli and reaction time.

Cattell (late 1800s; Am. Psychologist)   Phrased term "mental test." Used statistical concepts to understand differences.

5

Historical Context: Modern Day Ability Testing

Individual Intelligence Testing:  Binet (1890's)  Hired by French Ministry of Ed. To integrate “sub-normal” children into the schools.

 Developed first modern-day intelligence test.

 Terman (At Stanford)  Revised Binet scale-- Stanford-Binet.

 I.Q=MA/CA  (See Box 1.1, p. 7) 6

History: Modern Day Group Ability Testing

Group Testing:  WWI: Army Alpha and Army Beta   Developed by Yerkes, Terman, and others Take Army Alpha —Box 1.2. p. 8  Used by Eugenics Movement: Read Box 1.3, p. 10  1923: Edward Thorndike  Stanford Achievement Test  After WWII:  SATs: Developed by James Bryant Conant to equalize educational opportunities for all  Vocational counseling led to special aptitude tests and multiple aptitude tests 7

Modern-Day Personality Assessment

 Thorndike and Miner  Early assessors of interests (early 1900s)  Strong: 1927  Strong Vocational Interest Blank  Kraeplin (1892)  Word association test to study schizophrenia.  Woodworth's Personal Data Sheet (WWI).

 Kept “unfit” out of army.  Items related to neuroticism.  Forerunner to MMPI. (see Box 1.4, p. 12).

8

Modern-Day Personality Assessment (Cont’d)

Galton (1879) and projective testing: “Experiments such as these allow an unexpected amount of illumination to enter into the deepest recess of the character, which are opened and bared by them like the anatomy of an animal under the scalpel of a dissector in broad daylight”. (p. 12 of text) 9

Modern-Day Personality Assessment (Cont’d) Carl Jung (1904)  100 stimulus words to which individuals would respond—to detect mental illness Herman Rorschach (early 1900s)  Inkblot Test Henry Murray’s  Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) 10

Emergence of Informal Assessment Procedures Situational Tests (1930s)  Contrived naturalistic situations Observation Rating Scales Personal Documents Clinical Interview DSM-IV-TR (1 st developed in 1952) 11

Graph of Ability (All of what a person can do)

COGNITIVE DOMAIN (p. 14) ABILITY (All of What One Can Do) ACHIEVEMENT TESTING APTITUDE TESTING (Have Learned) (Capable of Learning) Survey Diagnostic Readiness Battery Intelligence Cognitive Special Multiple Ability Aptitude Aptitude 12

Assessment of Personality

Personality Testing (p. 14) Interest Objective Inventories Projective 13

Informal Assessment Procedures

Observation Rating Scales Classification Systems Situational Tests 14

Terms to Memorize

See Box 1.5, pp. 15-16 15

Questions to Consider When Assessing People (p. 16) How valid is the information gained from assessment instruments and how should that information be applied?

How do assessment instruments invade one’s privacy and does the government have, at times, the right to insist an individual be assessed?

Can the use of assessment instruments, in some cases, lead to labeling and what are the implications for the individuals who are “labeled.” Are assessment procedures used to foster equality for ALL people, or do they tend to create a society based on class.

16