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Beyond Multiple Choice: evaluating alternatives to traditional testing for selection MILTON D. HAKEL (Ed.), 1998 L51.50 (Hardback) 221 pp. ISBN 08058-2053-1
This book presents the papers, and reactions to them, from a conference held in 1994. The background at the time was a public clamour for improvements in traditional testing in the USA, `traditional' meaning paper and pencil multiple choice tests. The conference focused on selection testing and, as such, the views of industrial/organisational psychologists are prevalent, though contributors also came from other traditions. Together, the contributors searched for alternatives to traditional testing for selection and, in particular, for multiple choice tests. For those involved in educational assessment, the main interest is the perspectives which are provided by another testing world. These are intriguing for the parallels as well as the novel approaches.
The early chapters set the scene. Milton Hakel provides a rapid history of testing which covers the Ancient Chinese selection testing system, the US Army Alpha test from the First World War and then the criticisms of testing from the 1980s and 1990s. Alongside this criticism, calls for educational reform in the US were focusing on alternative forms of assessment, particularly performance assessments and portfolios. Hence the need for a consideration of alternatives.
The early contributions, though, reject rather than embrace this need. Robert Guion's keynote address emphasises the difficulties of separating real change from fads and trends and makes a plea for careful evaluation of alternatives using suitable methods that compare old and new against the same criteria. Mary Tenopyr points out the greater constraints placed on test users by legislation and court decisions, viewing these as leading to a regrettable diminution of multiple choice testing.
James Outtz produces a classification of tests according to the nature and medium...