The experience of the speaker is applied to the changes he has seen in the field of testing over his career. Many of the concepts, issues, and controversies engaging the educational research community today had already been identified at the beginning of the speaker's career in the 1930s. A review of the literature of the past 50 years reveals one common thread: concern on the part of measurement specialists that teachers seem not to be taking seriously the admonitions of researchers and measurement specialists regarding ways of using tests in the classroom. Other common threads are seen in the study of the relationship between test theory and practice, and the relationship between testing and public educational policy. A survey of the literature related to educational testing, as filtered through the observations of one person over 50 years, suggests that the responses to questions do not have much meaning unless they are placed in context. The ways in which tests are really being used is the essential point. A 37-item list of references is included. (SLD)