This special issue covers recent technical developments in the field of criterion-referenced testing. An introduction, six papers, and two commentaries dealing with test development, test score uses, and evaluation of scores review relevant literature, offer new models and/or results, and suggest directions for additional research. (SLD)

The following articles and reports are presented in this publication of "Overseas Universities:""Appropriate Technology and University Education," by John Twidell; "The Training of Engineering Staff for Higher Education Institutions in Developing Countries," by D. W. Daniel, C. A. Leal, J. H. Maynes and T. Wilmore;…

Public concern about use of drugs by young people in the United States remains high and efforts to counter drug abuse through education and intervention continue. While drug testing of athletes at the collegiate level is fairly common, legal restraints make testing less common at the secondary school level. After citing numerous statistics…

The procedures currently used in the 12 European Community (EC) member countries for certifying the employment qualifications of graduates of full-time vocational education and training programs and/or apprenticeship programs were compared. The comparison, which was based on information obtained from 12 national studies of EC members' education…

Reports from Graded Objectives in Modern Languages (GOML) groups throughout Great Britain are included in this annual newsletter on second language learning. It also contains two special reports: (1) report of the 9th annual GOML in-service training course in "Graded Objectives in Modern Languages: Taking Stock" (draft proposals),…

Student assessments and program evaluations conducted for the initial year of Brooklyn College's developmental education program are described. Four evaluative studies in 1979 focused on the reading component, the speech course, student and faculty perceptions of the program, and instructional effectiveness of the entire program. Descriptive data…

To help school officials avoid litigation, this newsletter examines two separate issues: student competency testing and educational choice. The authors propose objective certification--in which student achievement is described solely by objective, defensible scores--as a way to avoid the possible injury to students inherent in competency testing.…

This document consists of articles 1 through 25 published in the electronic journal Education Policy Analysis Archives for the year 2002: (1) Testing and Diversity in Postsecondary Education: The Case of California (Daniel Koretz, Michael Russell, Chingwei David Shin, Cathy Horn, and Kelly Shasby); (2) State-Mandated Testing and Teachers Beliefs…

This document consists of the six issues of the newsletter of the General Educational Development Testing (GED) Service published during 1997. The lead articles of the six issues are, respectively: (1) "Task Force Considers Improvements to Test Center Security Rules," by Cathy Allin discusses the implementation of a monitoring team and…

This paper addresses the controversy about use of "out-of-level" testing, the practice of assessing students (usually those with disabilities) with a lower-level version of a test. The controversy pits unintended instructional consequences against "accurately" measuring performance and avoiding student frustration. Introductory…

To enhance the study of abstract knowledge and to make it a central concern in the study of cognition, and to explore the nature of abstractions and the function of abstraction, the seven chapters in this special issue formulate researchable hypotheses, propose working hypotheses, identify major phenomena, and outline possible educational…

This special issue demonstrates the symmetry and rigor of probabilistic conjoint measurement in practical applications in education and other human sciences. Following the opening chapter introducing the theory, other chapters focus on conjoint measurement in testing and student evaluation, standard setting, and the study of behavior and attitude.…

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide information about the Alberta (Canada) Grade 3 Social Studies Achievement Test. The Bulletin includes a general description of the Achievement Testing Program, a description of the Grade 3 Social Studies Achievement Test, an outline of the objectives to be tested, and the test blueprint. Student…

The three articles in this newsletter focus on questions of what teacher knowledge consists of and how it can be measured. Three contemporary efforts to assess teacher knowledge, each with a different purpose, are presented. The first, based on a report of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, summarizes state assessment efforts and…

Truth in testing, competency testing, and intelligence tests constitute the central topics of this newsletter. The authors review a report prepared by the Education Commission of the States on truth-in-testing legislation and litigation, covering recent efforts at the state and federal levels to open the testing process to public scrutiny. They…