The issue of testing has so many aspects--public policy and political, social, and even technological considerations--that it will remain a subject of considerable public and professional interest, as well as book-length investigation, for years to come.  Rather than an exhaustive overview, this chapter presents a point of view about the evolution of testing in a national context based in part on our experience with national precollegiate examinations in which the College Board has over nine decades of involvement. The chapter explores the public policy environment, which currently has a major influence on testing in the United States, as well as psychometric, technological, and economic trends that are guiding test development for the future.

Challenges to Testing in the Public Policy Environment

The Drive for National Testing

Current Issues and Actors in National Testing

Lessons Learned from the Scholastic Aptitude Test

The Promise of Technology

Broadening the Methods of Assessment
 

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Carl Gutierrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu