On this page:

• Agreement to extend licence to use work

• Author briefing

• Letter of Invitation

Agreement to extend licence to use work

Agreement is hereby made between the International Test Commission (ITC) and the undersigned person(s) (i.e., the “Author”) concerning the preparation of a manuscript (i.e., the “Work”) to be included in a project entitled On-line Readings in Testing and Assessment (M. Born & C.D. Foxcroft, Eds.) (i.e., the “Project”). The intent is to make the Work free and instantly available to anyone who is interested in it for educational purposes. In cases of co- or multiple-authorship, it is understood that the senior author represents all the authors in their Work.

The parties agree to the following:

1. The Work has been prepared for the exclusive use in the above-named Project and is copyrighted by the Author. There shall be no compensation, monetary or otherwise, for either the Project or the Author for this Work. The Author fully acknowledges that his or her contribution to the Project, in the form of a manuscript (or manuscripts), has been done by invitation and has been entered into in the spirit of non-remunerative scholarship for the benefit of all who may read the Work. The Author extends to the ITC the license to use the Work in this Project for an indefinite period.

2. The Author is responsible for ensuring that the Work does not infringe on any copyright, violate any property rights, or contain any scandalous, libellous, or unlawful matter, and that the Author agrees to hold the ITC harmless against any claims that may be incurred.

3. The Author understands and agrees that once the Work is made available on-line it will be considered to be in the public domain and therefore capable of being copied by other persons. While the intent and Spirit of this Project is to make the Work of All Authors free to all interested scholars, therefore making it both unethical and illegal for anyone to copy it for any form of monetary compensations, both the Author and the ITC realise that it is possible that individuals with malicious or mercenary intent could create situations where either compensation or unwarranted activity is involved. In the event such cases occur, both the ITC and the Author reserve the right to take legal action against any party involved for violation of copyright.

4. The ITC, through the editorial work of the editors and the input of Council members, shall have the right to make such editorial changes and revisions in the Work as deemed necessary or advisable (including chapter title) for clarity, brevity and conformity of style, and the Author shall have the right of approval of major changes made by the ITC editorial team. Such changes shall normally be mediated by e-mail correspondence before making the Work available on the website.

5. The Author shall have the right to revise his or her Work at any time and request that such revision replace the old Work at the earliest convenience. The Author and the ITC also agree that the Author has the right to request the ITC to withdraw his or her Work; normally such a request shall be granted provided it is by mutual consent of the parties. Although not anticipated, the ITC has the right to remove the Work if in the ITC’s judgement it no longer fits the Project.

6. The Author shall receive appropriate credit for his or her role in the creation of the Work in any Table of contents or on-line listing of the contents of the Project.

Agreed to and accepted:


____________________________________ _______________________
Author (or Senior Author) Date


____________________________________ _______________________
Co-Editor Date

Author briefing

On-line Readings in Testing and Assessment

The vision and mission of the On-Line Readings in Testing and Assessment Project

The vision of the On-line Readings in Testing and Assessment (ORTA) project of the International Test Commission (ITC) is to provide a number of independent, yet integrated readings on aspects related to testing and assessment on-line and free of charge for the purposes of:

• Making a meaningful contribution to the teaching of psychometrics, testing, and assessment internationally so as to better prepare psychometricians, assessment practitioners, and researchers for modern day testing and assessment.
• Making quality assessment and testing readings available to instructors and students in developing countries in particular as it is often difficult for scholars and researchers in these countries to gain access to American or European textbooks or journal articles.

Our target audience

In view of the vision of the project, the target audience is largely students and lecturers, especially in developing countries. We thus anticipate that many of the people who read these short manuscripts will not be native speakers of English. Consequently, each must be written with great clarity in content and form. We encourage you to make the finished project one of the clearest and most informative documents you’ve ever written. Please avoid a level of writing that may be appropriate for publications that are aimed largely at your colleagues who use English with ease and have a high level of understanding related to the specialized vocabulary used in psychometrics, testing, and assessment. The readings that will comprise ORTA are intended, inter alia, for relatively naïve students. Many of these students will have a limited grasp of either English or the process, and jargon, of research and scholarship in the social and behavioral sciences.

Features of the Reading to be Prepared

Each reading, which must be original and unique to this project and not copyrighted or otherwise owned will have the following features:

The above will mean that the finished project will be a manuscript that is 15-20 double-spaced pages in length, excluding the abstract, reference list, questions, and biographical statements. For ease of editing and processing, we suggest you:

• type your manuscript in Times New Roman font size 12 pt
• type your manuscript using double-line spacing
• use these margins for page setup: 2,54 mm for top and bottom, 3,17 mm for left and or right
• the space occupied by a line should be more-or-less the length of the line below

If possible, please type the manuscript in MSWord and send it as an e-mail attachment. Sending them by disk is also acceptable.

Important Aspects to Address when Developing the Readings

The three main elements we have identified as focus areas are as follows:

- academically sound
- relevant
- accessible and meaningful

Academically sound

To achieve this, we rely heavily on the authors we invite to participate in the project. So you have been selected because we consider you among the best in your field, and your participation is valued.

Relevant

This implies that the reading that you prepare:
- meets the needs of the end users – students, lecturers, test users, and test developers
- satisfies the requirements of their mediators - lecturers
- draws on local and regional realities and life experiences
- provides an acceptable balance between national and international perspectives.

Accessible and meaningful to second language readers

This demands that:
- content is demystified
- language is pitched at readable and comprehensible levels
- assumptions are unpacked and made explicit
- concepts are unpacked and explained
- critical and innovative thinking is encouraged.

Below are some suggestions to help you prepare a manuscript that second language readers can meaningfully engage with and understand.

1. Make realistic assumptions about the reader’s existing background knowledge

Assume that many of your readers do not have any formal background knowledge or experience of what you are writing about. This implies the need to:

• Adopt an empathic, engaging, interactive approach that does not assume familiarity with the topic(s).
• Not assume a common base to draw on.
• Make explicit what you might normally assume to be given.
• Intentionally develop understanding through consciously drawing on what readers may already know.
• Link this concretely and practically with new knowledge.

2. Use ever-day vocabulary and terminology

The manuscript that you prepare will require the use of simple, ordinary every-day English in general and especially in the build up to introducing specialist terminology and unavoidable academic jargon. This implies that wherever possible, authors should:

• Substitute complex, or unfamiliar vocabulary and terminology with simpler, more commonly used equivalents.
• Present and explain new vocabulary, concepts or terminology in accessible every-day language BEFORE using them either in headings or in the text. And then
• Once a concept is understood, introduce and attach the specialist term, almost like a label.

3. Use every-day English in “predictive” headings

In particular, avoid the use of terminology that has not yet been introduced or explained in headings and sub-headings. Rather use an easily understood heading that conveys the essential meaning of the unknown term, and which alerts the reader to what to expect in the section.

For example, in a section dealing with andragogy instead of using this potentially unknown concept as the heading rather consider the following:

How to teach adults

The way we teach adults is different from the way we teach children because adults learn in different ways from children. Adults have lived longer and have experienced more than children. For these reasons, educators have developed a set of principles or guidelines for teaching adults. These principles are part of the science of teaching adults, which is called andragogy.

4. Look for opportunities to reinforce the meanings of new concepts or terms

Another helpful strategy for introducing readers to the meanings of new terms is to express the meaning of the new term in more accessible words immediately after the first use of the term. This could be through:

• Restatement in a more accessible sentence. Or
• Providing the meaning of a term or expression in brackets immediately after it is first introduced.

For example:
Andragogy (the way we teach adults) is different from the way we teach children because adults learn in different ways from children.

5. Use easy-to-read sentence structures

This refers to both the length and complexity of sentences. To make the text easier to process and digest:

• Use direct sentences that express one idea at a time clearly.
• Use active rather than passive sentence structures.
• Make sure that the ideas in successive sentences follow on logically from one another.
• Make sure that the links between the ideas expressed in sentences are explicit.

6. Develop one main idea per paragraph

Make sure that all of the sentences in a single paragraph contribute towards developing one main idea and that the progression from one paragraph to the next is also logical. A good test for how well a paragraph does this is to see how easy it is to identify a heading that expresses the main idea in the paragraph. (This is also a good way to initially select your headings).

7. Use explicit signposts in the text

As appropriate, use explicit signposts to make your intentions in the development of arguments clear. For example:

Headings should be signposts that announce exactly what the reader can expect to read about now.

First, second, third, next, then, after, that, finally or in conclusion, are signposts indicating sequence.

In the same way, similarly, and in addition are signposts indicating supportive/ complementary/supplementary relationships between the ideas expressed in sentences.

However, on the other hand, from another point of view, in contrast, alternatively, and so on all indicate alternative, contrasting or polarised relationships.

Organising Framework for ORTA

There will be an introductory chapter that will guide readers regarding how best to make use of the on-line readings. The readings will be arranged according to topical units. A concept map will also be provided for each of the topical units to highlight the main themes and core concepts of the readings included in each unit.

Although a framework for the topical units to be included in ORTA has been developed, the framework is dynamic and can be adjusted, expanded and refined as contributions are received and in response to new developments in the field. The titles of the units are provided on the orta website.

Letter of Invitation

Date

Dear ________

You have been identified as being an active and productive member of the international community of scholars who has a strong interest in psychological and educational testing and assessment. As such, the International Test Commission (ITC) takes great pleasure in inviting you to make a small contribution to participate in a project that has the potential to make a significant contribution to the teaching and professional practice of testing and assessment, especially in developing countries. The title of the project is On-line Readings in Testing and Assessment (ORTA). It will consist of a large number of independent and integrated readings each focusing on a specific topic in psychological or educational testing that will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, and practitioners in psychology, education, and other fields. The readings will be arranged according to topical units (see the attached Author Briefing document for the list of units and sub-topics). A reading in this context represents a short chapter of 15 to 20 pages. However, this is not a standard textbook project. These readings will be used mainly to supplement basic textbooks in measurement, testing, psychometrics, and assessment. Moreover, the readings will be free and instantly available to anyone. One would only have to log onto the project’s website to select any number of these readings. Researchers, educators and students in developing countries should find these readings particularly useful as it is often difficult to gain access to journal articles and American or European text books in developing countries due to poor economic climates that result in such scholarly materials being largely unaffordable. As we anticipate that many of the people who read these short manuscripts will not be native speakers of English, each reading must be written with great clarity in content and form. Furthermore, the readings that will comprise ORTA are intended, inter alia, for relatively naïve students. Many of these students may have a limited grasp of the process and jargon of research and scholarship in the social and behavioural sciences and may not be familiar with the specialised vocabulary used in testing and assessment. Please see the attached Author Briefing document for more information about how to prepare a reading with second language English speakers in mind.

The success of the project will depend almost entirely on the cooperation and selflessness of the international community of scholars who will contribute. An essential feature of this project is that the editors as well as members of the ITC Council who will serve on a review panel will work without remuneration. All expenses associated with getting this project up and running will be covered by the ITC. The international network of scholars will make their contributions as a pedagogical and educational service. By generously preparing one or more of the readings, all contributors will be helping students, academics, practitioners, and others around the world to gain a better understanding of modern psychometrics, testing and assessment. Authors will sign an agreement for their manuscript to be included in the project and for their work to be free and instantly available to anyone who is interested for educational purposes (See Agreement to extend license to use work).

The reading you are being asked to write will reflect your intimate knowledge of the topic(s) we have identified as part of your special area of focus. Your involvement with this project will afford you the opportunity to gain international exposure and address topics and perspectives you know well and may have commonly used (or be using) as examples in your lectures or workshops. Indeed, any of the readings you prepare will give you an opportunity to discuss some important perspective that may be mentioned only briefly in a standard text. You will be free to write about your assigned topics(s) as you would like. We also understand that you may want to write about a different topic than the one indicated in this letter or that you may want to prepare more than one reading. In either of these cases, we encourage you to tell us what you would like to do. We also encourage you to give us any suggestions you may have for improving this project.

Once you submit your reading, it will be reviewed by the co-editors and it may be referred to other ITC members on the review panel with expertise in the topic of your reading. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the readings that are included meet general standards. You may thus be asked to refine certain aspects of the reading. Furthermore, the co-editors will edit each of the contributions so as to standardize the formatting of the readings. When completed, the readings will be uploaded to a master file and listed on a “menu” posted on the project’s website.

With the above in mind, we would like to invite you to prepare a reading that will focus on __________. This reading will likely be included in Unit ___ . The title and how you approach the reading will be almost entirely up to you, but you should consult the attached Author Briefing document before you start preparing your reading. We ask that you complete the first draft of the contribution by ________. When it is received we will review it, edit it and return it to you for making any suggested refinements or for your final approval. Once it’s complete, your reading will be added to the master list. The menu of available readings will be gradually built up. This implies that all the readings will not have to be ready by the time that ORTA’s first readings appear on the project’s website. Unlike a standard book, all of the readings do not have to be ready at the same time.

We kindly ask you to notify us by e-mail (see e-mail addresses below) if you will accept this invitation. Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have about this project in general or about your contribution in particular. Lastly, we encourage you to suggest the name(s) of a colleague or colleagues whom you know would prepare an excellent reading. If you do this, please provide an e-mail address along with his or her name and address as well as the topic you recommend be covered.

Thank you for considering this invitation. It is only through efforts by many individuals with insights and experiences accumulated over the years that this project will be a success. We hope that we can add your name to the many scholars who will participate in this unique project as a valuable service and as an adjunct to the practice and teaching of psychometrics, testing, and assessment. The collective wisdom of the contributors, selflessly accomplished in a genuine academic spirit, will be extremely beneficial to the growing number of individuals who are interested in psychometrics, testing, and assessment.

Regards