Major Issues in Measurement Today--Their Implications for Black Americans

Major issues in educational measurement can be defined on at least three interrelated levels. First, there is the academic, or theoretical level, where the issues are defined in the context of educational measurement as an academic discipline. These issues include topics which are currently being explored in the professional literature and in university departments that deal with educational measurement. Second, there is the technological system level, where issues have emerged from the use of this measurementbased system for the collection and transformation of information for educational programming and decision making, including the allocation of resources. Third, there is the multi-decision level, where issues result from the meanings of cumulative decisions made at the technological systems level for the general welfare of individuals and groups. The thrust of this paper is to discuss a sampling of current academic developments and issues in educational measurement which, through their generation of issues on the other two levels, have real meaning and importance for Black Americans. Educational practitioners and policy analysts tend to be seriously concerned about those issues which relate to the collection and use of information, since their social policy implications are more direct, rather than to academic developments underlying

Political science · School Choice and Performance