Nancy Patricia O'Brien

Focusing on English-language publications of the last decade, this guide identifies and describes key reference and information sources in the field of education today. In addition to general reference sources O'Brien covers major social science reference sources that have a direct or overlapping relationship to education. Nearly 500 entries are arranged by subject and type of work. Most are new to this work. For example, there are now a number of Internet sources with URL addresses and an increased number of journals, which reflects the increasing reliance on periodicals as information sources. The book has also been completely reorganized, with new chapters covering Educational Technology and Media; Multilingual and Multicultural Education; Adult Alternative, Continuing and Distance Education; Curriculum, Instruction, and Content areas; Educational Research, Measurement, and Testing; and so forth. Excluded are lists of education associations and organizations, general social science refe

This list assembles a selected group of approximately 1000 books and journals currently available in the field of education, mostly published in the late 1980s. All works are in English and almost all are American. American government documents and monographs published by UNESCO have also been included. Although the majority of entries are individual monographs and journal titles, some multi-volume standard sources have been included, as have been such traditional reference works as directories, encyclopaedias and bibliographies. For certain subject areas, specific types of resources were included; for example, collections of conference papers are peculiar to comparative education because the international scope of the discipline results in the sharing of information in conference settings. In special education, handbook-type materials are included; in educational research and statistics, textbooks are features. In educational reform, commissioned reports and publications from professional organizations are prevalent. A balance of perspectives was attempted whenever suitable materials were available. Educational materials with radical, conservative and moderate viewpoints were annotated if they fell within the criteria for inclusion. In general, materials pertaining to children's literature were excluded since this subject is covered in other resources.

This is an essential reference tool for professionals involved in the measurement of human performance and abilities through construction of formally designed instruments. O'Brien . . . has compiled the bibliography to emphasize test construction and item construction as they affect the various disciplines. Issues of test bias, validity, and reliability are related specificallly to the process of test construction. This immensely useful bibliography contains 2,759 citations arranged under headings of test construction, fine arts, foreign languages, intelligence, mathematics, miscellaneous, milti-aptitude batteries, personality, reading, science, sensory motor, social studies, speech and hearing, and vocations. Journal of Psychology and TheologyMeasurement of human performance and ability through formal testing reaches into nearly every area of modern life, and a great deal of research continues to be devoted to improving testing methods. While there is no scarcity of bibliographies of testing materials, a comprehensive resource on test construction and design has been lacking. This new reference is designed to fill that gap. Bringing together materials on a wide range of areas, it provides more than 2,700 classified listings on the development, design, and construction of specific tests as well a general test construction, its rationales, and the pitfalls involved.