Ralph W. Tyler

Ralph W. Tyler (1902–1994) was an American educator who worked in the field of assessment and evaluation. He served on or advised a number of bodies that set guidelines for the expenditure of federal funds and influenced the underlying policy of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Tyler chaired the committee that developed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). He has been called by some as "the father of educational evaluation and assessment".

Tyler was born on April 22, 1902, in Chicago to a professional family. His maternal grandfather was in the Civil War and had been appointed as a judge in Washington by president Ulysses S. Grant. His father, William Augustus Tyler, had been raised in a farm, and had become a doctor. eventually deeply religious, there came a time when both of Tyler's parents thought that the medical profession was too lucrative and that they should realign their priorities, at which point his father became a Congregational minister. As the sixth of eight children, Tyler grew up in Nebraska where he recalled having to trap animals for food and wear donated clothing. He worked at various jobs while growing up, including his first job at age twelve in a creamery.

Tyler went to college during the day and worked as a telegraph operator for the railroad at night. He received his bachelor's degree in 1921 at the age of 19 from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. There was a time when Tyler wanted to become a missionary in Rhodesia, but he declined because he had no formal instruction in ministry, unlike his younger brother who had gone to Yale Divinity School. However, later all the brothers pursued a career in the field of education.

His first teaching job was as a high school science teacher in Pierre, South Dakota. In 1923, Tyler wrote a science test for high school students which helped him "see the holes in testing only for memorization." He earned his master's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1923 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1927.

...
Wikipedia