Includes bibliographical references.

1 School Tests--Why Should Parents Care? 1 -- 2 Core Concepts of Educational Testing 19 -- 3 The Misuse of Standardized Test Scores as Indicators of Educational Effectiveness 45 -- 4 Making Sense out of Standardized Test Scores 75 -- 5 Common Classroom Tests: When Students Choose Their Answers 107 -- 6 Common Classroom Tests: When Students Construct Their Answers 131 -- 7 Rubrics: Potentially Useful Scoring Tools 149 -- 8 Performance Tests 167 -- 9 Portfolio Assessment 189 -- 10 Assessing Children's Affect 205 -- 11 The Pressure to Improve Test Scores--and Its Consequences 225 -- 12 How Students Are Graded 247 -- 13 How to Evaluate Teachers 263 -- An Appendix of Draft Letters from Parents 283.