This article proposes that sampling design effects have potentially huge unrecognized impacts on the results reported by large-scale district and state assessments in the United States. When design effects are unrecognized and unaccounted for they lead to underestimating the sampling error in item and test statistics. Underestimating the sampling…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that examined 12 areas within state EHDI programs. Related to how EHDI programs address loss to follow-up, 47 coordinators responded with 277 items, and themes were identified in each…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that consisted of 12 evaluative areas of EHDI programs. For the professional development area, 47 coordinators responded with a total of 223 items, and themes were identified in each SWOT…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that examined 12 areas within state EHDI programs. Related to how the medical home is integrated into the EHDI process, 273 items were listed by 48 coordinators, and themes were identified…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that examined 12 areas within state EHDI programs. For the family support area, 47 EHDI coordinators listed 255 items, and themes were identified within each category. A threats,…

Implementing generationally appropriate activities for persons with dementia is a challenging task. Horticulture therapy (HT) addresses this challenge through the use of plants to facilitate holistic outcomes. Utilizing the model of environmental press, the current study sought to analyse adult day service (ADS) participants' responses to HT as…

This report contains the results of the first statewide educational learner pilot assessment in Wisconsin. The objectives of the program were: (1) to develop and refine the statewide assessment process including instrument development, instrument administration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of the results; (2) to provide a…

The Arizona Tax Research Association analyzed the Arizona Teacher Proficiency Examination (ATPE). An item analysis of the 150 questions administered to 2,430 applicants from July 1982 through March 1983 was undertaken. A minimum point biserial correlation coefficient of .33 indicated the validity of an item. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the…

This report contains an interpretive analysis of individual test items used in the 1973 Wisconsin State Mathematics Assessment at grades 3 and 7. The sampling procedures, organization, interpretation of data, limitations, and useful definitions of the test, and test results are discussed. The analysis includes an evaluation of each test item and…

The reading assessment undertaken by the Department of Public Instruction in May 1973 was a pilot study. As such its primary purpose was to provide information for future assessment instruments, administration procedures, sampling procedures, and data analysis alternatives. Thus, this document contains a critical examination of the pilot…

In this article, the author takes a critical look at current assessment practices in social studies education, especially those at the state level. He defines some key assessment terms, then considers the major issues of statewide assessment, focusing on the reliability and validity of the means by which government agencies across the United…

This procedures manual for the North Carolina Test Development Program details the tasks involved in test development. The basic steps are described in an introductory section; they are (1) to specify the institutional objectives of the curriculum and ensure their instructional validity; and (2) to specify the characteristics, such as the purpose…

This study focuses on possible factors which contributed to the low mathematics scores achieved by Florida's 11th graders on the 1977 Functional Literacy Test. The authors developed preliminary hypotheses to explain the low scores based upon professional conjecture, analyses of test items, and examination of item data from the October 1977 test…

This study examined the construct validity of the subtests in the California Entry Level Test (ELT). The ELT is administered to every first grade pupil in California as part of the California Assessment Program and is used as a baseline measure of the prereading skills of beginning first graders. The discriminant validity of the subtests was…

State Departments of Education are turning to the use of criterion referenced, as opposed to norm referenced, models for statewide assessment. The underlying assumption in this turn of events is that results generated by criterion referenced tests within the statewide assessment context permit the drawing of value inferences about the…