The Challenges of Meeting the Standards: A Perspective from the Test Publishing Community

Some of the challenges that test publishers face in constructing educational assessments that meet high technical quality as prescribed in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing ( AERA, APA, NCME, 1999 ) are examined. Federal educational initiatives are used to illustrate demands on technical quality that challenge the efforts of test publishers to adhere to the Standards . Possible pitfalls to avoid when updating the Standards are also discussed.     

New Labour and Higher Education: Dilemmas and Paradoxes

David Blunkett's Greenwich speech (2000) set out what have become the main themes of New Labour's engagement with higher education, themes which were elaborated in the recent White Paper ( DfES, 2003a ). This paper draws attention to the dilemmas and paradoxes which arise from the difficulties of simultaneously satisfying the objectives which were set out in the aftermath of the 2001 general election, and from the trade off solutions and policies actually identified. The most fundamental conflict is between the desire to expand the system and the costs of that expansion. The author also identifies a conflict between institutional diversity and hierarchy and between exclusionism and accessibility. The paper concludes by suggesting that exclusionism is still alive and well under the government of a party that still has ‘Labour’ in its title.     

Excellence,Sharing, and Solidarity as Ethical Principles for International Academic Co‐operation: The Agence universitaire de la Francophonie

In this article the author addresses some of the ethical and moral challenges embodied in the global era. He considers the case of European universities and their heritage, particularly in light of the massification of West European, and now East and Central European, higher education systems. It is argued that European integration rests on balanced academic co‐operation, based on ethical and moral principles of sharing and solidarity. The activities of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) are introduced in this regard, as an example of outreach and empowerment in which excellence and co‐development meet sharing and solidarity.     

Earth's Surface Water Percentage?

A hands-on activity is used to illustrate standard point and interval estimates of a proportion. Since the proportion is more or less known, the accuracy of these estimates can be assessed. A hypothesis test associated with the interval estimate is also given.