ABSTRACT
One of the common-sense distinctions in educational testing is between "objective" and "subjective" tests. This chapter describes the basic model of the testing process from a cybernetic perspective. It discusses the conventionally accepted model of testing for learning as sampling from a hypothesized infinite repertoire of learned atomistic responses. The chapter presents a borderline case where conceptualizing the testing situation under the conventional versus the cybernetic models might lead to different results. Even if one grants the logical priority of active judgment over static, formal technique, the requirement of agreement in judgment upon which evaluative techniques must be based might be seen as pushing one toward more "objective" modes of testing. The implicit model of testing for learning seems to be a sampling from a field of predetermined possible responses. The total field is presumably determined in principle by the subject matter.
