Integrating Testing with Teaching. ERIC Digest.

This digest discusses the integration of teaching and testing. The use of tests as instructional tools and administrative tools is discussed as well as teacher and administrator attitudes toward testing and teacher competency in interpreting test results. The term "tests" covers standardized tests of achievement and aptitude, less formal paper-and-pencil tests, performance tests, and the like. To link testing directly to teaching, tests can be used at the beginning of the school year to gain an overview of student knowledge, in decisions about grouping students in the classroom, in diagnoses of each student's knowledge, and in attempts to determine the appropriate pace of classroom instruction. Tests can be used to make student promotion and retention decisions, to share information with parents and other non-student stakeholders, and to measure the effectiveness of instruction and learning. Teachers generally seem to be more supportive of testing than is indicated by the literature, and teachers' attitudes seem to be a function of their experience and knowledge. Superintendents report a higher level of satisfaction with use of tests by practitioners for decision making than do measurement specialists. Students favor frequent testing, but while most of them want to know the results of their tests, less than half want to discuss them with their teachers. A short reading list is appended. (TJH)