In studying the effectiveness of different instructional programs, a criterion measure can favor one of the programs because there is greater overlap between the content covered on the test and in that program. This overlap can be measured using teacher estimates or teacher estimates combined with curriculum analysis. (Author/BW)

Results from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for 5,392 elementary school students and from the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (multiple choice) for a national sample are used to explore local item independence (LID) of test items. Some strategies are suggested for measuring LID in performance assessments. (SLD)