Kansas law requires setting passing scores for the reading and mathematics competency test for 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 11th grade students, administered annually since April of 1980. New objective-referenced tests are prepared each year. Both judgmental (Angoff, Ebel, and Nedelsky) methods and empirical (contrasting groups and borderline) methods…

In 1984 an evaluation team examined the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP), a statewide competency-based, criterion-referenced testing program that was instituted to limit awarding of high school diplomas to those students who had earned scores above cut scores on a series of achievement tests. This article examines the procedures the…

This study was designed to illustrate the use of the Rasch model procedure to equate the Dade County Compensatory Education Skills Test (DCCEST) to the State Student Assessment Test (SSAT) for both mathematics skills and communications skills. The SSAT was a test developed by the Florida State Department of Education to measure students' level of…

This paper presents the dual approach to item bias detection employed in the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP). Using instructional objectives mandated by the Maryland State Board of Education, the MFTP develops two levels of the Maryland Functional Reading Test (MFRT) and the Maryland Functional Mathematics Tests (MFMT). These…

Intended both to evaluate the California testing program's success in assessing student achievement in the basic skills and to suggest possible improvements in the program, this report includes an executive summary evaluating current testing procedures, describing experimental studies on new ways of testing and reporting testing information, and…

Students failing to master minimum competency tests are categorized as dropouts in this description of the results of and remediation efforts for the statewide Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) Testing Program. TEAMS assesses minimum competency in basic skills at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11-12 exit level. The first…

In 1983 the Maryland State Department of Public Education (MSDE) issued a request for proposals for "The Development of the Score Reporting System for the Maryland Functional Testing Program." The MSDE called for a literature review, a national survey, a statewide survey of user needs and capabilities, an assessment of the state's report…

A variety of adults were surveyed on alternative strategies for the State of Louisiana's minimum competency testing program. Both individual and group interviews were conducted with teachers, local school district supervisors and program administrators, parents, and state board of education members. Participants discussed what a state testing…

The relationship between item omission and item position on criterion-referenced tests in the Texas state assessment program is examined. Item statistics from the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) and Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) mathematics and reading tests from 1983 through 1985 are examined for three ethnic…

This paper traces the evolution of curriculum reform in Mississippi from a state level, norm-referenced accountability system to a performance-based, centralized accreditation system that integrates instructional management requirements into improvement standards. Accountability legislation has primarily been concerned with quality of student…