Nora Odendahl received a Ph.D. in English from Princeton in 1985 and has pursued an “alternate” career path. After working as a journalist and as a freelance writer and editor, she joined Educational Testing Service in 1992 and became a test developer and designer. Her sixteen years as an employee and ten years as a consultant have focused on measurement of reading and writing skills in such programs as the GRE, the GMAT, the LSAT, and the innovative Cognitively Based Assessment of, for, and as Learning. For the computer-based CBAL array, she has designed and developed instructional, formative, and summative materials in the disciplines of writing, argumentation, and research skills. Odendahl and Deane’s ETS research memorandum on “Assessing the Writing Process: A Review of Current Practice” is currently in press.
The first volume of Odendahl’sĀ Testwise: Understanding Educational AssessmentĀ addresses the history, philosophy, sociology, and technical foundations of assessment of learning. A planned second volume will explore in more detail the construction and use of such assessments as well as possible directions for the future.