Volume 13, Number 1 Spring/Summer

ATP Welcomes European Division“Our goal is not only to

be the intelligent voice fortesting in North America, butto be able to use that voice inas many languages and acrossas many cultures as possible,”

stated William G. Harris, Ph.D., ExecutiveDirector of the Association of TestPublishers (ATP), in welcoming itsEuropean Division to the Association.

“Until recently ATP focused on the inter-ests of testing companies in NorthAmerica. But our growth as an organiza-tion, our strides in creating an educationalconference, our successes in the areas oflegislative advocacy and the developmentof model guidelines drew the attention ofthe European testing community,”explained Harris.

A group of European publishers, led byMarten Roorda, CEO of Cito, a leadingtesting and assessment company based inthe Netherlands, approached ATP with the

concept of a European Division. Roorda, whowas recently elected to the ATP Board ofDirectors, said plans to create a formal rela-tionship between the American-based ATP andEuropean test publishers were initiated lastyear. This union was made official at the ATPBoard of Directors meeting during theAssociation’s annual Innovations in Testing

Conference in February.

“The primary goal of the ATP EuropeanDivision will be to unite European test publishers and related professional organizations into a permanent organization tofoster and maintain collegial relations amongthemselves, and to enable them to work withother professional and business organizationsthat have an interest in testing and its uses,”said Roorda. He said the Division will be anadvocate on behalf of its members interests inlegal, regulatory and professional arenas. Andhe stated the intentions for the Division wereto promote generally accepted guidelines forpsychometrics, test delivery, test security, e-testing, interoperability, privacy, test adapta-tion, localization and other areas related to thetesting process.

...the ATP mission to promote the highest professionaland technical standards for the test publishing industry isuniversal.

-- Dr. William G. HarrisATP Executive Director

Inside this Issue

Association Notebook, pg. 2

ATP provides comments on federalrule, pg. 2

ATP FOCUS ON...Wim J. van derLinden, pg.3

Legislative Updates, pg.4

Conference Snapshots, Pg. 5-6

Apply online to become a member organizationof ATP at www.testpublishers.org

or call +1.717.755.9747

Harris added, “Many of the key compo-nents of the test industry such as themeasurement science that underpins thetest publishing industry, the role of testsin society, the protection of intellectualproperty of test publishers and theadvances in the test delivery platformsare without cultural or geographicalborders. These and related components

of the business of testing require unifor-mity both within and across markets.The ATP Board of Directors support forthis new Division signals that the ATPmission to promote the highest profes-sional and technical standards for thetest publishing industry is universal.”

Test PublisherTMTest PublisherTM

News and Information for providers of assessment products and services from the Association of Test Publishers

Association NotebookThe Certification/Licensure Division has launched a securityinitiative web page... the page is located atwww.testpublishers.org. Go to member Login and then click onthe Certification/Licensure Division. The Security Initiative is atask force made up of individuals who are interested in protectingthe security of testingmaterials and processes. This task force marks an ongoing effortto create tools, best practices, and educational efforts to stop thespread of test theft and fraud. The group has divided into 3 sub-committees working on the following separate projects to be usedby testing industry:

• Intellectual property – Test development cost analysis studyand Internet braindump site reduction

• Security Planning – Guidelines and processes for develop-ing test security planning

• Data Protection – Whitepaper on Data ProtectionFor more information, or if you are interested in participating inthis effort, contact Jamie Mulkey (jamie_mulkey@caveon.com).

ATP Welcomes as Members.... Employment Research andDevelopment Institute, MySQL AB, Psychometric Services,Ltd., A&D Resource and Envisia Learning.

Next Board Meeting... October 12, 2006 at the American ClubResort, Kohler, WI. Members can have business placed on theagenda by emailing the ATP Board of Directors c/oLScheibatATP@aol.com

Next Conference...February 4-7, 2007 at the Westin MissionHills in Rancho Mirage, CA.

ATP Career Center...The ATP Career Center opened for busi-ness in May. Visit the Career Center at www.testpublishers.org.Post job opportunities or your own resume... peruse job open-ings or job applicants. Members receive discounts for ad list-ings.

Call for NominationsThe Association of Test Publishers invites members to nominate individuals for two prestigious career awards

in testing. Nominations are sought for The Career Achievement Award and a new award for ProfessionalContributions to the Application of Testing. Members can download an informational document on these twoawards at www.testpublishers.org. Go to Member Login and then to Announcements. Otherwise, to obtain

more information email LScheibatATP@aol.comThe deadline for submissions is July 15, 2006.

ATP Provides Comments on Federal “Two percent Rule”ATP recently provided comment on the new proposedamendment to federal rules governing how studentswith disabilities can be assessed. Under these pro-posed regulations, states would be able to developmodified achievement standards and then make modi-fications in format or design to assessments or assess-ment systems that measure achievement based onthose modified standards. However, the proposed reg-ulations would allow students tested against modifiedachievement standards to be considered “proficient”for determination of Adequate Yearly Progress, up to2 percent of all students (the “2 % rule”).

ATP’s comments on these regulations stressed the need to allowstates the time needed to ensure that valid and reliable measurescan develop to meet these guidelines. ATP also commented thatadditional guidance outlining what it means to appropriately

reduce test content as part of creating modified achievement standards would enable states and their vendors to better deter-mine acceptable approaches for the development of alternate ormodified assessments.

ATP’s comments on the 2% rule integrated the perspectives of several Education Division organizations. Alan Thiemann, ATP’sLegislative Counsel, worked tirelessly to incorporate diverseviewpoints across ATP staff and Education Division members infinalizing the comments. “I am proud that ATP could come togrips with some significant issues, express them in professionalterms, and hopefully provide the Department with a basis tomake useful changes to the regulations that will truly benefit ourcustomers, as well as giving ourselves, as their contractors, betterguidance on how to comply with the final rules,” Thiemann said.

ATP’s comments on the proposed federal guidelines can befound in the Announcements section of the ATP web site atwww.testpublishers.org.

AATPTP FOCUS ON...FOCUS ON...Professor Wim J. van der Linden, from theUniversity of Twente in the Netherlands...by Prof. RonaldK. Hambleton, Ph.D., University of Massachussets at Amherst

Professor Wim J. van der Lindenfrom the University of Twente in theNetherlands was the recipient earlierthis year of ATP’s career achieve-ment award for contributions tocomputer-based testing. This awardwas very much deserved sinceProfessor van der Linden is rankedamong the elite psychometricians ofthe past 30 years. In my comments Iwill focus on Professor van derLinden’s research and achievementsin the United States, but there is anequally long and impressive list ofcontributions he has made in hisown country and in many parts ofthe world.

A review of Professor van der Linden’s vitareveals the depth and diversity of hisresearch skills. I first got to know him inthe early part of his career when he wasworking on measurement issues associatedwith criterion-referenced assessment. Hisimportant contribution, with his colleague,Don Mellenbergh, was to provide a statisti-cal framework for addressing criterion-referenced assessment problems,and this led to a number of very sophisticat-ed solutions to several criterion-referencedassessment problems. Also, he introduceddecision theoretic concepts as tools in meas-urement at the same time, and today, theseconcepts are firmly entrenched in moderntesting practices.

The research program of Professor van derLinden’s that I believe will have the biggestimpact on testing practices is his work onautomated test assembly (ATA). Professorvan der Linden has been systematic in his research, looking at waysto introduce various technical constraints so that ATA can model the waycommittees want to construct exams. He

has found ways to build tests tomeet multiple criteria, to reflectcomplex content criteria, to useboth IRT and classical measure-ment criteria, to match test scoredistributions, to produce multipleforms to measure the same traitor multiple traits, to handle mul-tidimensionality, and more. Also,his current research to optimallyconstructing item banks is clever,original, and practical, and in thenext few years should be knownby nearly every testing agency.His program of research in auto-mated test assembly and relatedtopics provides the frameworkfor the next generation of testdevelopment around the world.

Professor van der Linden has also beeninfluential in the field of computer-adap-tive testing. His contributions to itemcalibration, exposure controls, responsetime analysis, and item selection areespecially important. I have beenimpressed, for example, with some of hisrecent work to address item parameterestimation when items are being pro-duced from item algorithms. His workwith Cees Glas provides an invaluablesolution to the problem of how to cali-brate large numbers of items withoutneeding large examinee sample sizes.This problem has troubled many meas-urement specialists because the need togenerate large numbers of items is great,while costs and item exposure must bekept low.

Professor van der Linden has carried outresearch and advised staff at the LawSchool Admission Council and theEducational Testing Service for manyyears. I remember his contributions tothe National Assessment GoverningBoard and their work to set valid per-formance standards on the NationalAssessment of Educational Progress

(NAEP). His clear thinking and contribu-tions to the debates were immensely impor-tant in the positive outcome that followed.His reputation in the measurement field ledto his involvement with the National Boardof Medical Examiners where he has been aconsultant to their innovative programs inmedical assessments. His work with theAmerican Insitute of Certified PublicAsscountants (AICPA) has been outstanding,and his problem solving skills have helped tomake it possible for the AICPA to introducean innovative computer based test design.

I might add that wherever he goes he findsopportunities to teach psychometrics, andturn colleagues into collaborators in hisresearch initiatives. He has mentored largenumbers of professionals in the field of psy-chometrics, and I include myself amongthem.

Professor van de Linden represents the verybest that the psychometric methods field hasto offer the fields of education, psychology,and credentialing. Professor van der Lindenis himself a model for all of us as a thinking,caring, practical and responsible psychome-trician.

Professor Wim J. van der Linden traveled from theNetherlands to attend the ATP conference along with his

daughter Hendrikje.

On a weekly basis, ATP monitors legislative initiatives in all states and the U.S. Congress. Many of the ini-tiatives that are flagged by ATP as being “of interest” to the test publishing industry are posted on the ATPwebsite at www.testpublishers.org. Members can go to the Legislative/Legal Section of the website andclick on State Net for a complete copy of any of these initiatives or to review additional initiatives beingmonitored.

IL S 882 Sponsor: Maloney (D) Title: Health Services Education Grants ActIntroduced: 02/18/2005 Summary: Amends the Health Services Education Grants Act. Provides that, in addition to grants to medical, dental, pharmacy,optometry, and nursing schools and physician assistant programs, grants may be made to psychology and other physical andmental health-related schools and programs.

MD H 1378 Author: Hubbard (D) Title: State Board of Professional CounselorsIntroduced: 02/10/2006 Summary: Alters the definition of the term "appraisal" to repeal the provision that instruments or tests requiring specializedknowledge or training to administer or interpret are excluded unless specified licensees or certificate holders complete specifiedtraining approved by the Board of Examiners of Psychologists.

US HB 4852 Sponsor: Owens (D) Title: Elementary And Secondary SchoolsIntroduced: 03/02/2006 Summary: Curtails the use of highstakes tests in elementary and secondary schools.

US SCR 87 Sponsor: Biden (D) Title: United States Intellectual Property RightsIntroduced: 04/05/2006 Summary: Proposes a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that United States intellectual property rights mustbe protected globally.

NY A 10969 Sponsor: Paulin (D) Title: Accountability in State AssessmentsIntroduced: 04/28/2006 Summary: Provides for accountability in state assessments by creating a regents review board to audit assessments used to deter-mine grade promotion, graduation and adequate yearly progress by requiring a written report, implementation of an auditing andreview of pilot and/or field testing of the standardized tests used to ensure validity, reliability, alignment to standards and appro-priateness of use.

NY S 1291 SAME AS: NY A 6191 Sponsor: LaValle (R) Title: Standardized Testing for Teacher Certification Introduced:01/27/2005 Summary: Enacts safeguards to prevent bias in standardized testing for teacher certification, including restrictions on questionsas to race, ethnicity, gender and linguistic background, which are to be used in compiling test score data; creates a temporaryadvisory committee to advise the legislature on standardized testing.

Legislative Updates

More than 60 educationalsessions and workshops tochoose from...

Snapshots from Innovations in Testing 2006

ATP’s Innovations in Testing Conference 2006, held February 6-8 inOrlando provided educational sessions on testing issues of all kinds. This

conference attendee is drawn to a poster session on test security. Morethan 600 conference attendees enjoyed the sunshine along with riveting

topics and informative keynote speakers.

...Fantastickeynote speakers!

An opportunity to meet the leadership...ATP Division leaders were on hand at the conference to provide updates on the work ofeach Division and to Chair a meeting of their division at the conferences. (From left toright) Casey Marks, Ph.D., Certification/Licensure; Phil Young, Education; Jeff Manson,Clinical; David Waldschmidt, Ph.D., Industrial/Organizational

Ronald Berk, Johns Hopkins Universitygave a well-received address on humor

in the workplace.

ATP conference attendees enjoy one of the manynetworking socials. (From left to right) DeirdreKnapp, HUMRRO, Chuck Freidman, ACT; JimHogan, AC, Vicki Flaherty, IBM Learning, Bill

Cramer, LaserGrade

...Relax

A ship in a hotel lobby?! Not only was this ship“anchored” in the lobby of the Gaylord Palms Resort --but, much to the delight of conference attendees, it was

open for lunch and dinner .

Mark Your Calendars

Innovations in Testing 2007 will beheld February 4-7, at the Westin

Mission Hills Resort in RanchoMirage, California

Kudos on another great meeting from ATP...

ATP’s 2006 Conference Chair, Cyndy Fitzgerald (center) ofKryterion and ATP Meeting Planner, Michelle Issing ofDesigning Events (right), begin planning for next year.

...Network,Socialize...

Introducing the ATP Career Center

http://careercenter.testpublishers.org

Many job seekers and employers today are discovering the advantages of searching online

of the mega job boards may not be the best

ATP Career Center gives industry employers and job seeking test publising professionals a

Visit us at http://careercenter.testpublishers.orgtoday to post jobs or search job listings in the

An easier way

Advertising Exposure – reach a focused audience of industry professionalsEasy Online Job Listing ManagementResume Search Included with Job Posting

seekers match YOUR criteria

information and link to your web site

Services are FREE!Job Search and Application

Option Save Jobs – apply when ready

ATP Career Center!

Test PublisherPublished by the Association of TestPublishers1201 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.Suite 300Washington D.C. 20004USA

For membership information call 866.240.7909 or visit the ATP Website at www.testpublishers.orgBOARD OF DIRECTORSChairCharlie WonderlicWonderlic, Inc.Chair - ElectWayne Camara, Ph.D.The College BoardCasey Marks, Ph.D.National Council of State Boardsof NursingDavid F. Foster, Ph.D. Caveon Test SecurityChris Gruber, Ph.D. Western Psychological ServicesScott Hamilton, Ph.D. Profiles International, Inc.Margaret Jorgensen, Ph.D.Harcourt Assessment, Inc.John OswaldEducational Testing ServiceMarten Roorda,CitoCarol WatsonPearson Assessments

All correspondence regarding editorial content should be sentto: Association of Test Publishers c/o Lauren Scheib, 2995Round Hill Rd., York, PA 1740, USA. . PH: 717.755.9747FAX: 717.755.8962 Email: lauren@testpublishers.org

DIVISION CHAIRSCertification/LicensureJamie Mulkey, Ed.D.Caveon Test SecurityClinicalJeff MansonWestern Psychological ServicesEducationalPhilip YoungEducational Testing ServiceIndustrial/OrganizationalDavid Waldschmidt. Ph.D.Wonderlic, Inc.

OFFICERSGeneral CounselDavid Arnold, Ph.D., J.D.Wonderlic, Inc. TreasurerPatrick J. MeehanHoughton MifflinSecretaryGerald Borofsky, Ph.D.Bay State Psychological Associates

Executive Director: William G. Harris, Ph.D.Legislative Counsel: Alan J. Thiemann, J.D.Management Consultant: Lauren B. Scheib

The Test Publisher is distributed with the understanding that it is not engaged in renderinglegal, accounting or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistanceis required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

© 2006, Association of Test Publishers, 1201 PennsylvaniaAve., N.W., Suite 300, Washington D.C. 20004, USA.866.240. 7909 or +1.717.755.9747. Reproduction in wholeor part without written permission is prohibited.