Handbook of Test Security

High stakes tests are the gatekeepers to many educational and professional goals. As such, the incentive to cheat is high. This Handbook is the first to offer insights from experts within the testing community, psychometricians, and policymakers to identify and develop best practice guidelines for the design of test security systems for a variety of testing genres. Until now this information was scattered and often resided inside testing companies.  As a result, rather than being able to learn from each other’s experiences, each testing entity was left to re-create their own test security wheel.
 
As a whole the book provides invaluable insight into the prevalence of cheating and “best practices” for designing security plans, training personnel, and detecting and investigating misconduct, to help develop more secure testing systems and reduce the likelihood of future security breaches.  Actual case studies from a variety of settings bring to life how security systems really work.  Examples from both domestic and international programs are provided.  Highlights of coverage include:
•         Best practices for designing secure tests
•         Analysis of security vulnerabilities for all genres of testing
•         Practical cheating prevention and detection strategies
•         Lessons learned in actual security violations in high profile testing programs.
 
Part I focuses on how tests are delivered for paper-and-pencil, technology-based, and classroom testing and writing assessment.  Each chapter addresses the prevalence of the problem and threats to security, prevention, and detection.  Part II addresses issues essential to maintaining a secure testing program such as planning and monitoring, physical security, the detection of group-based cheating, investigating misconduct, and communicating about security-related issues. Part III examines actual examples of cheating-- how the cheating was done, how it was detected, and the lessons learned.  Part III provides insight into security issues within each of the Association of Test Publishers’ four divisions: certification/licensure, clinical, educational, and industrial/organizational testing.  Part III’s conclusion revisits the issues addressed in the case studies and identifies common themes. 
 
Intended for organizations, professionals, educators, policy makers, researchers, and advanced students that design, develop, or use high stakes tests, this book is also ideal for graduate level courses on test development, educational measurement, or educational policy.

James A. Wollack is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he serves as the Director of Testing & Evaluation Services and the University of Wisconsin Center for Placement Testing, and as the Research Director for the General Education Assessment. Wollack has published numerous journal articles and book chapters and is a frequent presenter at national conferences on topics such as detection of answer copying, test security, score scale stability, test construction, and test speededness, including having co-authored the chapter on test administration, security, scoring, and reporting for the 4th edition of Educational Measurement. Wollack frequently serves as a consultant or expert witness on cases involving suspected cheating on high-stakes exams, and has presided over many cases of alleged student academic misconduct at the University of Wisconsin. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), and is very active in the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Measurement Services Special Interest Group of AERA, the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), and the National College Testing Association (NCTA).
Wollack earned a B. S. with honors in Psychology from the University of California at Davis, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

John has a B.A. from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, and a Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. John counts among his most important life accomplishments his marriage for over 50 years to water-color artist Judith A. Fremer.