HISTORY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT

400 YEARS

Before Christ, Socrates made used of used oral

200 B.C
achievement testing to 'draw out' his students, as
many good teachers do today. He 'quizzed' his
listeners, not primarily to find out how much they
knew, but rather to provide a basis upon which
the individual's knowledge and understanding
The early Chinese are credited with having used
could be clarified.
tests in the selection of their civil servants

1845

Horace Mann, a prominent New England

Educator, suggested the use of written
examinations. He pointed out the disadvantages 1865 to 1878
of oral examinations. And also, he used concepts
that have become the cornerstones of modern
theories, and which are now known as validity,
reliability and usability

Boston schools began to administer written

examination because of Mann’s suggestion
 1864

Reverend George Fisher, had proposed the use of

objective and standardized measures of academic
attainment. He also established a book, called the
'Scale Book' which contained the numbers
assigned to each degree of proficiency in the Francis Galton to use mathematical technique in
various subjects of examination measuring human traits in his works, 'Heredity
Genius' (1869), and 'Natural Inheritance' (1889).

1902

Dr. Edward L.Thorndike initiated some

experimentation during this decade.

R.S. Woodworth had devised a personality test

known as the Personal Data Sheet to examine
hundred thousands of men during World War
period
1920

The development of survey test occur. G. M. Ruch

published a survey test for high school these
surveys were concerned with school plant,
administrative organization, qualifications of staff,
and related matters,
 1940

National Council on Measurement in Education,

launched various evaluation programmes such as
programmes of teacher education, activity
programmes in elementary schools
1944

The Chicago Tests of Primary Mental Abilities were

published in 1944.These tests had reflected the
application of factor analysis
1845

Horace Mann, a prominent New England

Educator, suggested the use of written
examinations. He pointed out the disadvantages
of oral examinations. And also, he used concepts
that have become the cornerstones of modern 1962
theories, and which are now known as validity,
reliability and usability

Levin and Wardwell used doll to measure

aggression.

1963

Schmuck (1963) devised a test to measure the

attitudes of school children toward school by
making them complete the sentence like :
Studying is ……. This school ………
 Warner (1949) and Hollingshead (1949) are
particularly noted for devising techniques for the
measurement of the social status of groups and
individuals.
Hollingshead and Redlich devised a sociometric
scale called 'the Two-Factor Index of Social
Position'
In recent years, the concept of socio-economic status
(SES) is widely used in education, sociology and
psychology