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
The early Chinese are credited with having
upon which the individual's knowledge and
used tests in the selection of their civil
understanding could be clarified.
servants

1845

Horace Mann, a prominent New England

Educator, suggested the use of written
examinations. He pointed out the 1865 to 1878
disadvantages 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 Francis Galton to use mathematical technique
proficiency in the various subjects of in measuring human traits in his works,
examination '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 1962
cornerstones of modern 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