Standards-based grading (SBG) tightly links student assessment to course learning objectives, providing students with meaningful feedback. A well-designed SBG system should ease first-year engineering (FYE) students' transition to tertiary education by setting clear expectations and enabling self-monitoring of learning progress. However, when…

Objectives and sample test items to measure cognitive outcomes in environmental units of study in grades four through nine are presented. The objectives are subdivided into three main groups: (1) natural ecosystem; (2) human environment; and (3) environmental problems. Objectives and test items to measure affective outcomes are also listed.…

The American Government Collection is comprised of 38 course objectives and related evaluation items. Each sample contains an objective, sample test items, and criteria for judging the adequacy of student responses. The objectives are divided into nine categories: (1) introduction to government; (2) our colonial heritage; (3) the American…

The purpose of this study was to develop a taxonomy which would categorize high level physics problem-solving behaviors, and to examine the usefulness of such a classification system. This classification of learning objectives is based on complexity, a nonarbitrary measure which does not rely upon comparison between students but rather is based on…

This booklet was developed in response to Ohio Education Association members' concern in developing behavioral objectives. It characterizes well-formulated behavioral objectives as: (1) stated in precise language that clearly defines the behavior; (2) establishing a performance or behavior expectancy level; (3) describing the conditions under…

Four factors essential to determining how many items should be constructed or sampled for a set of objectives are examined: (1) importance and type of decisions to be made with the results; (2) importance and emphases assigned to the instructional and behavioral objectives; (3) number of objectives; (4) practical constraints, such as item writing…

Four earlier collections of mathematics objectives grouped according to grade levels have been replaced by objectives organized by subject matter. Material is presented in a logically sequential order within each major heading. Objectives tend to start at the most elementary and progress to the most complex, so that teachers of the lower grades…

This paper argues that the technology of the systems approach to instruction (using performance objectives) demands a "rules" or structured organizational climate in which high productivity will most likely result from detailed supervision. The author focuses, albeit briefly, on performance as a function of the interaction between…

A complete set of behavioral objectives for first-year algebra taught in any of grades 8 through 12 is presented. Three to six sample test items and answers are provided for each objective. Objectives were determined by surveying the most used secondary school algebra textbooks. Fourteen major categories are included: (1) whole numbers--operations…

The mathematics curriculum guide stresses the development of desired pupil behaviors in handicapped elementary school children through an individualized clinical teaching approach. The curriculum emphasizes behaviorally specified and measurable mathematics objectives found to be necessary for success in regular educational programs. The guide is…

Behavioral objectives, each accompanied by six sample test items, for secondary school geometry are presented. Objectives were determined by surveying the most widely used secondary school geometry textbooks, and cover 14 major categories of geometry, with sections on set theory and introductory trigonometry. Answers are provided. Categories…

In 1982 the Dade County Public Schools (Florida) began developing test item banks for secondary subject areas, because other testing programs have limited utility for assessing the quality of curriculum, instruction, or learning in specific content areas. In May l984, the approximately 17,000 seventh graders enrolled in Life Science and the…

Over 100 objectives, each accompanied by a related evaluation item, dealing with elementary school life sciences, are presented. The objectives are organized into the following categories: individual organism; population; environment; community; and ecosystem. Objectives are based on an examination of leading curriculum materials in the life…

A comparison is drawn between norm-referenced (or competitive) and criterion-referenced testing procedures as used for the purpose of assessing and grading knowledge gained from teaching. It is argued that competitive or norm-referenced grading practices are sadistic, unethical, statistically unsound, and irrelevant to course objectives.…

A method for obtaining criterion-references information from standardized tests is proposed. (TA)