Gender differences on the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 science tests were explored through statistical analyses and interviews with 25 high school students. Results show the importance of studying the validity of the outcome measure and suggest that conclusions about group differences and correlates of achievement depend on the…

Created a developmental scale for the North Carolina End-of-Grade Mathematics Tests using a subset of identical test forms administered to adjacent grade levels with Thurstone scaling and Item Response Theory methods. Discusses differences in patterns produced. (Author/SLD)

This dissertation study examined the reliability and validity claims of a modified version of the Spanish Modern Language Association Foreign Language Proficiency Test for Teachers and Advanced Students administered at George Mason University (GMU). The study used the 1999 computerized GMU version that was administered to 277 test-takers via…

The Survey of Testing Practices was administered to 470 undergraduate students at Pepperdine University and the Univesity of California Los Angeles. The items concerned testing practices in three or four classes taken the previous term: type of test, test administration, class size, procedures for returning tests, test difficulty, and observed…

How much do 17-year olds know about U.S. history and literature? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been gathering information about the educational attainment of American students in a variety of subject areas, but no study had focused solely on students' basic knowledge of American history and their familiarity with major…

The multilevel characteristics of test item data are considered as a method for examining the characteristics of standardized norm-referenced tests. A theoretical rationale for examining multilevel characteristics is presented. It can be used as an aid to understand why program and instructional effects on measures constructed from…

The strengths and weaknesses of five typical machine-scored test formats are discussed, specific recommendations for format selection are made, and reasons for the importance of format are examined. (MSE)

This report outlines student performance results from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) for the 1997-1998 school year as well as results from the Spanish TAAS tests and the Biology I and Algebra I end-of-course examinations. Data represent test results for students not in special education. The chapters are: (1) "Executive…

Recently, L. Zeng and M. J. Kolen (1995) have introduced item response theory (IRT) observed score (OS) equating of number-correct (NC) scores for equating different forms of a test. In this paper, IRT-OS-NC equating is adapted to equating the cut-off scores of examinations. Next, the differences between results obtained using a Rasch model for…

Two of the most popular assessment instruments for measuring college student educational outcomes are the College Outcome Measures Program (COMP) of the American College Testing Program (1987) and the Academic Profile of the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Characteristics of these tests were compared, and the sensitivity of each test to…

This paper examines the proposed use of student self-report data as proxies for College Basic Academic Subjects Examination (College BASE) scores and as policy indicators of good educational practice. A recent study by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems had recommended this use of student self-reports. For this study 540…

This educator's guide to the California Assessment Program's English-Language Arts test describes what California's new reading and editing tests do and do not measure. The guide states that each test form consists of one reading passage from literature, science, or history-social science followed by a variety of questions on word meaning and…

This English Language Arts Achievement Test was designed to evaluate the writing skills of third grade students. It includes instructions in which students are asked to write their own stories after reading a "story starter." The test instructs students to use their imaginations to finish the story and encourages them to do a prewriting…

The item difficulty and item discrimination of three multiple-choice item formats were compared in experimental and non-experimental settings. In the experimental study, 104 graduate students were randomly assigned to complete one of three forms of a multiple-choice test: (1) a complex alternative ("none of the above") as the correct answer; (2) a…

Information is presented about the grade 9 mathematics examination to be administered in 1988. Contents include: (1) Introduction; (2) General Information (including Purpose of the Achievement Testing Program, Nature of the Achievement Testing Program, Exemptions from the Achievement Testing Program, Students Receiving Instruction in French,…