ABSTRACT
Higher education is replete with testing. In the United States, it begins with college admissions testing before a student ever steps foot on a campus. Classical Test Theory (CTT) refers to a theory about understanding how well we have measured a mental characteristic or trait of an individual; these traits are not directly observable such as height, weight, or time in the 100-meter dash. This chapter discusses how CTT impacts on measurement issues in higher education today, and the need to be mindful of the purpose of assessment when considering how best to evaluate whether assessments provide good information for educational decision-making. Work in the area of interrater reliability led to the development of generalizability theory. A test that has reliability and validity evidence for predicting whether applicants who are English language learners are likely to be successful in their beginning university studies may not predict equally well for students whose first language is English.
