Educational Assessment as a Promising Area for Psychometric Research

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Abstract
Tests of educational achievement typically present items in the multiple-choice format. Some achievement test items may be so "saturated with aptitude" (Willingham, 1980) as to be insensitive to skills acquired through education. Multiple-choice tests are ill-suited for assessing productive thinking and problem-solving skills, skills that often constitute important objectives of education. Viewed as incentives for learning, multiple-choice tests may impede student progress toward these objectives. There is need for accelerated research to develop alternatives to multiple-choice achievement tests, with content selected to match the specified educational objectives.

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