Frequently Asked Questions

• descriptive information (i.e., test purpose, test publisher, price, test acronym, intended test population, administration times, publication date(s), test authors, and in-print status)
• evaluative information summarizing technical properties of the test (i.e., reliability, validity) when available

(Read a sample review)

The Buros audit and accreditation program represents a mark of quality and excellence in the testing industry. Testing programs accredited by Buros display high standards of psychometric quality as articulated in the professional standards and the expectations of the testing community. Through our independent, in-depth review of the policies and procedures related to your testing program, we can provide guidance to further improve or refine your testing practices.

Testing programs demonstrate their commitment to quality by participating in the Buros audit and accreditation program. If accreditation is obtained, your organization can market the assessment services as meeting accepted professional testing standards. The accreditation seal also strengthens the legal defensibility of the testing program.

The Buros audit and accreditation program is intended for testing organizations with testing products and services that are proprietary. Commercially available tests cannot be reviewed under this program. We encourage publishers to submit their test products for review in the Mental Measurements Yearbook series.

In order to evaluate the quality of a testing program according to the Buros Standards, your organization must be able to supply documentation on the policies and procedures governing critical components of your testing program. Further details about the kind of information that must be submitted are available in the Buros audit applications for Stage 1 audit and Stage 2 audit.

The Buros audit and accreditation program is offered as a two-stage program. Stage 1 provides a general audit of processes and procedures employed in the testing program. It requires review of extensive documentation on the testing program as well as completion of a site visit. This component of our audit program typically takes two to three months to complete excluding the amount of time required by your organization to prepare the documentation.

The Stage 2 audit provides a focused evaluation of specific tests within the testing program. It is performed after the Stage 1 audit has been successfully completed. Documentation required for this audit stage is less extensive and thus requires less time to prepare and review. Stage 2 audits take approximately one month to complete.

Relatively new tests may be under review for the next edition of the Mental Measurements Yearbook. You will find information on the current status of many tests by listing your test's name in the keyword search field and examining the "Notes" section. If you are unable to find the test name on the website, you may want to contact the test publisher, access a specialized database (such as PsycINFO) at your library, or check with the ETS website.

You also may try checking our Tests Reviews Online service periodically because test reviews are available prior to publication in the Mental Measurements Yearbook series. Because Buros reviews only commercially available tests, research instruments and proprietary tests are not part of our review process.

It is also possible that the publisher has not provided us with copies of their testing materials that are necessary to conduct a test review. In these situations, we are unable to provide a test review. As of The Fourteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, reviews are not obtained when tests do not provide sufficient evidence of their developmental history or technical characteristics.

If you cannot find test information by searching Test Reviews Online through the Buros website, you may wish to search the Educational Testing Service (ETS) website. ETS maintains information (but not evaluations) on over 20,000 commercial and research instruments.

If you know the publisher of the test, you may wish to contact them and ask for the specific details you wish to examine.

Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (Hyperlink to the Standards) established by American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Psychological Association (APA), and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) provide a comprehensive set of criteria for evaluating the quality of tests and assessments. Criteria for Buros MMY reviews are informed by those standards. More information about other standards, codes, and guidelines that inform appropriate testing practices in the professions can be found on the Assessment Literacy page.

When selecting or evaluating a test it is important to consider content coverage, intended use, administration guidelines, validity evidence, reliability evidence, reporting recommendations, and bias investigations. A detailed listing of these types of questions can be found on our Educational Resources page.