Assessment, Cognitive

Precursors to Modern Assessment

The desire to assess cognitive capabilities is not peculiar to modern, technologically sophisticated cultures. As early as 2200 B.C., the Chinese instituted a civil service examination to determine whether government officials were fit to perform their duties, seeking proficiency in music, archery, horsemanship, writing, arithmetic, and public and private rites and ceremonies (Green, 1991). Even the Bible records an instance of a brief oral examination concocted by the Gileadite armies to detect fugitives as they tried to escape from vanquished lands. The Gileadites allowed passage only to those who could pronounce the word shibboleth, well aware that those attempting to escape would not know the correct pronunciation. Those who failed were “seized and slaughtered…by the fords of the Jordan” (Judges 12:4–6).

The term final examination takes on new meaning in this context, a fate that, thankfully, is no longer associated with cognitive assessment in civilized nations. Nonetheless, controversy abounds regarding how, how much, to whom, and for what purpose cognitive assessments should be administered. The only agreement at present seems to be that people's lives can, indeed, be changed for good or ill, depending on their performance on tests and other measurements.

The Birth of Modern Psychometrics

Achievement tests, aptitude tests, IQ tests—these types of cognitive assessments are associated with psychometrics, the field that concerns itself with the scientific measurement of psychological characteristics. Although widely believed to meet high standards of technical quality, measures of this sort have also been criticized, particularly on grounds of discrimination and culture bias (see, e.g., Gardner, 1993; Gould, 1981; Sternberg, 1985).

The late 1800s produced several major figures in the history of psychometrics, specifically Frances Galton, J. McKeen Cattell, and Alfred Binet. Galton, Charles Darwin's cousin, was preoccupied with the hereditary basis of intelligence and the measurement of human abilities. Cattell, an American who studied in Germany under Wilhelm Wundt, opened the first testing laboratory in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania in 1888. French psychologist Alfred Binet, in collaboration with his physician-associate Theodore Simon, constructed the first practical intelligence test, published in 1905. Other pioneers in psychological testing included Charles Spearman in test theory, Edward Thorndike in achievement testing, and Lewis Terman in intelligence testing and father of the gifted-child movement in the United States.

As an outgrowth of the psychological testing movement of the 1920s, hundreds of psychological tests are now produced and distributed commercially. Their availability, however, is restricted to trained psychologists, educators, or researchers. Access to many of these instruments depends on meeting stringent criteria for administration and interpretation of results, as well as codes of ethical conduct that are distributed [Page 97]by all of the major professional organizations (see, e.g., American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999).

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