This study examined the alignment between the Golden State Exam (GSE) in High School Mathematics and the University of California (UC) Statement on Competencies in mathematics, exploring the technical quality of the alignment process. UC faculty and high school mathematics teachers (n=20) from Northern and Southern California rated the mathematics…

The Connecticut Teacher Assessment Center Project has, since 1986, been developing a semistructured interview in the area of mathematics to evaluate beginning teacher competence. The strategy for validation of the project's performance tests, Connecticut's reform initiatives, and implications of systematic validity for traditional psychometric…

The development of the portion of a basic skills test that would adequately assess the writing ability of entering college freshmen in New Jersey is described in this paper. The stages of the test development process that are discussed include the decision to incorporate a writing sample in the form of an essay on a specified topic, the selection…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has challenged test developers to create a voluntary program of certification in which highly accomplished teachers receive recognition for meeting rigorous standards. These four papers report the experiences of teacher-candidates, school district administrators, researchers, and test…

The context and development of the assessment center exercises used in the field of secondary history and social studies under Connecticut's Teacher Assessment Center Program are reviewed. Preliminary findings suggest success in designing an assessment that combines the knowledge from formal instruction with the skills gained through classroom…

Issues related to the development of test items to assess pedagogical content knowledge for an elementary school licensure test are discussed. The subject test is the Connecticut Elementary Education Certification Examination. Several items useful for assessing pedagogical content knowledge are described. (TJH)

Placement testing programs are generally designed to place students into courses for which they are best prepared, to reduce administrative costs due to students dropping and adding courses because of poor placement decisions, and to provide faculty with information concerning students' levels of preparation well in advance of the first day of…

The CONNTAC program marks an attempt to develop an integrative performance assessment process that will measure knowledge, skills, and instructional repertoire of beginning teachers. The development of assessment center exercises and the critical role that scoring plays in exercise development are described. (SLD)

Whether the time limits of the Academic Assessment Placement Program (AAPP) Reading Comprehension Test of the State Board of Regents (SBR) of Tennessee provide fair treatment for all underprepared students was assessed. Focus was on studying various response patterns and completion rates that indicate whether or not speededness (SP) is critical.…

Development and validation of the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT) is described. The TOPT, a simulated oral proficiency interview, was developed in French and Spanish as a test of speech skills to be used by the state as part of its certification testing program for French, Spanish, and bilingual education teachers. An introductory chapter…

In 1986, the Florida State Legislature passed a law requiring teachers to demonstrate knowledge of their subject areas before being granted teacher certification. The state also provided funding for developing subject area examinations. The generic procedures for developing these examinations are outlined. During the first phase of the project, an…

A battery of mathematics tests was developed to predict: (1) student success on the mathematics subtest of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), basic skills tests required upon entry into public colleges or universities in Texas; and (2) student readiness for college level mathematics. The developed tests were intended to provide universities…

For a national program assessing college graduates to succeed, it must be institutionalized at the majority of colleges and universities in the nation. The information generated must play a clear and key role in formulating state and institutional higher education policy, college matriculation standards, and degree-granting decisions. Such an…

The impact of test item multidimensionality was examined as it affected fitting items on a teacher licensure test to an item response theory (IRT) model. Test item data from the 1990 study of G. W. Guiton and G. Delandshere are used. The Connecticut Elementary Certification Test (CONNECT) is a licensure examination designed to assess the subject…

The efforts of the Florida Institute for Instructional Research and Practice in designing, developing, and analyzing the subject area knowledge tests of the Florida Master Teacher Program are described. A total of 13 subject area examinations was developed in 1984-85, and 5 additional tests were developed the following year. For each subject area…