bullseye views od validity and reliability

T.J. Elliott’s decidedly non-expert blog on tests, assessments, exams, quizzes, assessments & claims that shape our lives

Testing: A Personal History

A highly idiosyncratic account of life as a series of tests exploring both their influence and infamy as instruments “by which the existence, quality, or genuineness of anything is or may be determined” — as Dr. Johnson described them. This blog contains the reflections and unresolved questions of a generalist still trying to understand how these mechanisms became so unpopular and what the world might do differently in educational and other types of personal measurement.

Glad to have others join the conversation.

But it’s not an argument.

Archives of posts

Blog posts are below in reverse chronological order:

Taking the Straight job to Pursue the Creator’s Arc
What an inspiring obituary of Frank Auerbach, the great British painter! His …
Bad Attitudes in the Knowledge Economy
I have never felt more of a minority in this country than …

The January 31 in 31 Days Skein

  1. Too Early for Apgar
  2. Test Hatred
  3. Just when I thought I was out…
  4. We want the good tests
  5. Polarity testing
  6. The Adjustment of Claims Is Not Always about Geico
  7. If Only the Associated Press Could Call All Our Races: Claims Part II
  8. Claims Matter The Most For Those Deemed Different
  9. Two Stories of Failed Testing — And Teaching
  10. Nobody’s perfect and neither are tests
  11. Aiming for Validity
  12. When a bad test was good for me
  13. Validity is an imperfect measurement
  14. Validation is not just for parking tickets
  15. Mailbox Monday: Our Faithful Correspondents Communicate
  16. The Way To Bet or Predictive Validity Is Imperfect Too!
  17. The Test-Taker’s Anxiety And The Limits Of Predictive Validity \
  18. Eighty percent of life is… 4/5 of life
  19. Hope IS a strategy
  20. Read Freddie
  21. The ‘people should judge people, not tests’ take ignores our biases
  22. Mailbox Monday # 2 — and there’s a joke!
  23. What do the SATs measure?
  24. Do the SATs measure success?
  25. My Blue Genes
  26. Cognitive Gadgets Are Not Lego Toys
  27. Mind Reading with My Granddaughter
  28. Dog’s Breakfast or What My Algorithm Hath Wrought
  29. Mailbox Monday #3: Tests, Time, Teachers, and Inertia
  30. Myths of Meritocracy Are Entangled in Myths about Testing
  31. The Baseball Hall Of Fame Is A Meritocracy; Our Society Is A Ganglion Of Oligarchies
  32. Are Problems With Tests Really Problems With Authority?
  33. Question Authority Because Authority Should Ask More Questions
  34. NO tests but for learning
  35. NO Tests But For Learning: The Provocation Proceeds
  36. NO Tests But For Learning: Alphabet Soup and Irish Whiskey

Kindergarten Graduation

Below are some stock education photos

We have no idea who these lovely people are

But you can be sure they have taken tests

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