Black and Wiliam (1998a, 1998b) demonstrate that formative assessment is one of the most effective strategies for promoting student learning. Since the publication of their reviews, formative assessment has gained increasing international prominence in both policy and practice. However, despite this early innovation, the theory and practice of…

In the present paper and the discussion that follows, the author presents aspects of test construction and a careful description of instructional objectives. Constructing tests involves several stages such as describing language objectives, selecting appropriate test task, devising and assembling test tasks, and devising a scoring system for…

This study investigated the Individual Learning Plans of eighty-eight students who were deaf and hard of hearing attending facilities and schools for the deaf in Victoria Australia. The students' assessment and planning portfolios were scrutinised for evidence of formal and informal assessment used to generate goals for the Individual Learning…

Background: The pedagogical and status implications of assessment in physical education (PE) have been recognised in the past. How students perceive being assessed and graded is a neglected area, however. While some studies have garnered students' perceptions of assessment when no grade is awarded or the stakes are relatively low, we know less…

The purpose of this study was to examine the instructional effectiveness of different online reading strategies for students identified as possessing different learning styles, either internal or external locus of control styles, on tests measuring different learning objectives. Participants were 169 undergraduate students, randomly assigned to…

Mainstreamed students should be graded in terms of their growth rather than by comparison with nonhandicapped students. Fair evaluation procedures include determining terminal and enabling objectives; pretesting and functional assessment; monitoring progress; measuring achievement; and transferring the evaluation into a meaningful grade. (SK)

Examines four factors involved in the determination of how many test items should be constructed or sampled for a set of objectives: (1) the type of decision to be made with results, (2) importance of objectives, (3) number of objectives, and (4) practical constraints. Specific guidelines that teachers and evaluators can use and an illustrative…

A history teacher suggests ways to approach the development of a set of working behavioral objectives in both the cognitive and affective domain. (KM)

Author attempted to call attention to some serious problems with respect to the general goals of education, and to suggest that these problems are left untouched by most of the newer developments in the specification of educational objectives. (Author/RK)

A discussion of criterion-referenced measures is presented. Two characteristics define the criterion-referenced measure: the presence of a performance criterion, and test items keyed to a set of behavioral objectives. The performance criterion, in an educational setting, is usually a relative standard of performance. There are two ways of…

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…

The author began his education career committed to curriculum, not measurement. After years of using teacher-made and standardized tests as instructional afterthoughts, he recognized the superiority of criterion-referenced testing and the influence of high-stakes testing on instruction. He then became involved with developing such tests on a…

Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are constructed to permit the interpretation of examinee tests performance in relation to a set of well-defined competencies. CRTs are currently used extensively in schools, industry, and the armed services because they provide valuable and different information from norm-referenced tests. Test publishers, school…