Frederic Lord, Father of Modern Testing, Dies at 87

Princeton, N.J. (Feb. 9, 2000) - Educational Testing Service distinguished research scientist Frederic Lord, whose pioneering research over four decades laid the foundation for much of modern test theory, died of pneumonia Feb. 5 in Naples, Fla., at the age of 87. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. March 5 in ETS's Chauncey Conference Center.

"Fred Lord's contribution to ETS and the field of measurement can not be overstated," says Drew Gitomer, vice president of Research at ETS. "His development of Item Response Theory was seminal and is the foundation for most of our assessments, and especially computer adaptive testing."

Lord, known among educational researchers as the 'Father of Modern Testing,' wrote the classic volume A Theory of Test Scores, which resulted from his doctoral dissertation at Princeton University in 1951. The dissertation proved to be a pivotal work in the history of psychometrics and marked the beginning of what present-day teachers of psychometrics refer to as modern (as opposed to classical) test theory. The monograph soon became recognized by Lord's peers as a major work that formed the mathematical statistical foundation for many of the advances in Item Response Theory, a measurement approach that is the basis for computerized adaptive testing.

In 1944 he began his long association with what was to become the Educational Testing Service, first with the Graduate Record Office of the Carnegie Foundation, rising from Research Assistant (1944) to Assistant Director (1946). In March of 1949 he joined the newly formed Educational Testing Service as Head of Statistical Analysis. In 1950 he moved to the Research Division, where he remained until his formal retirement in 1982.

During his long career, Lord published more than 100 chapters and papers. In 1958, he extended his dissertation when he produced, with Melvin R. Novick, an integrated volume titled Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores, another milestone in the theoretical understanding of test theory. He also made numerous practical contributions over the years that illuminated as well as reflected theoretical understanding. These contributions are epitomized in his last book, published in 1980, Applications of Item Response Theory to Practical Testing Problems.

Lord was honored as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. A past president of the Psychometric Society and of the Division of Evaluation and Measurement of the American Psychological Association, he served on the editorial council of the Psychometric Society from 1953 until 1985, was chairman for eight of those years and was an associate editor of Psychometrika, the Society's journal. He was also a member of the Psychometric Society. He published more than 100 professional articles, book chapters and books. Lord was also a visiting lecturer with the rank of professor at Princeton University from 1959 through 1971.

In 1976, Lord was appointed an ETS Distinguished Research Scientist and in 1983 he received the ETS Distinguished Service to Measurement Award, the highest recognition given by ETS to leading scholars in the field of measurement. In May 1982, when a major conference was held at ETS commemorating Lord's 70th birthday, participants came from as far away as Australia and Europe. The conference resulted in The publication of a major volume in his honor, Principals of Modern Psychological Measurement, edited by Howard Wainer and Sam Messick. His wife, Muriel; two sons, John and Eric; and three stepchildren, Conrad, Robert and Diane Bessemer, survive Lord.

Educational Testing Service is the world's premier educational testing organization and a leader in educational measurement research. A private nonprofit company, it is dedicated to serving the needs of individuals, educational institutions and agencies, and governmental bodies in 181 countries. ETS develops and annually administers more than 11 million tests worldwide on behalf of clients in education, government, and business. To view the annual report, or for more information, access the ETS Web site at www.ets.org.