This book was an excellent outline for a layperson on how tests are made and what they can and cannot tell you. The authors explain a lot about how to interpret the statistics of testing without using a lot of technical language. Especially interesting to me was the discussion of Campbell's Law, which basically says that if you rely too much on one factor to evaluate something, that factor no longer is a valid indicator because people are consciously focusing on it.

I felt the second part of the book was not as strong as the first part. There wasn't as much discussion as I thought there would be, based on the dust jacket, about how to deal with the fact that policy-makers relying too heavily on tests to make decisions. I also would have liked more discussion on how to evaluate teachers if you don't use tests. Yes, teachers are in the best position to evaluate their students' work, but some are much better at this than others.

All in all, though, worth reading.