Educational testing is an essential activity that takes place in every school, in every school district and in every state. Standardized tests are used to evaluate students and schools; to help improve teaching and learning and to generate important information from which instructional and educational policy decisions can be made.

Yet, despite all of the useful, reliable information that testing provides, testing is frequently an intensely debated topic, and often leaves the average parent, student or educator with a lot of questions. TestingFacts.org was designed to help answer some of these questions, and to help you gather the facts about testing. On this site, you’ll learn:

• Why testing is important • How testing benefits students, parents and educators • How tests are constructed • Test-taking tips • The latest news about educational assessment and • Where to find additional testing resources.

About TestingFacts.org

TestingFacts.org is an initiative of the Association of American Publishers’ Test Committee. Since passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, testing has taken on added significance. Our members work with every state in the nation to provide fair and accurately designed and scored tests, and are proud of the work we achieve. We hope that this web site will better help you to understand the importance of educational assessment, and will give you insight into the work in which we engage on behalf of America’s educational system.

The following members of the AAP Test Committee sponsor TestingFacts.org: CTB/McGraw-Hill; Harcourt Assessment, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc.; Riverside Publishing; Data Recognition Corporation; and Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.


About the AAP Test Committee

The AAP Test Committee is composed of senior executives from the nation's leading publishers of group and individually administered tests. Its mission is to foster awareness of the role of testing in education, to promote appropriate use of assessments in education and to advocate public policy conducive to sound testing practices. Members of the AAP Test Committee publish materials and maintain online resources to keep educators and the general public informed of assessment issues.

The Test Committee is one of more than a dozen active member committees operating as part of the AAP School Division. Members of the AAP School Division are the nation’s leading developers of educational materials, technology-based curricula and assessments. As knowledge leaders in education, School Division members create instructional solutions that help students, teachers and schools succeed. The School Division’s mission is to help improve the academic achievement of all students by designing and delivering high-quality instructional content in a variety of media.

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