Student assessment in the Czech Republic is still rather traditional, with classroom practice continuing to focus on summative assessment. The country has regularly participated in international surveys, but the findings from these only started to influence educational policy during the past decade, when Czech students' performance fell markedly…

In this study, we describe a framework for monitoring rater performance over time. We present several statistical indices to identify raters whose standards drift and explain how to use those indices operationally. To illustrate the use of the framework, we analyzed rating data from the 2002 Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition…

While measurement precision is relatively easy to establish for single tests and assessments, it is much more difficult to determine for decision making with multiple tests on different subjects. This latter is the situation in the system of final examinations for secondary education in the Netherlands and is used as an example in this paper. This…

The article addresses 10 questions that should receive thoughtful consideration prior to initiating a competency testing program for handicapped students. (Author)

Argues that the urban counselor has to be prepared and become acutely aware of the functions that take place in the desegregated school. The urban counselor's allegiance must go out to all students and participate totally in a changing and progressing educational systems. Makes suggestions and recommendations which should be considered by…

Correction for guessing does not fulfill its intended function when test takers who have nothing to gain from scoring will respond randomly when they could have answered correctly had they tried. Raw scores underestimate abilities. If random guessing is more prevalent in the control group, correction for guessing inflates treatment effects.…

Offers opposing views of the merit of EQuality project, a high school reform movement designed to improve students' performance through curriculum changes. (JL)

The hypothesis that behaviorally disordered students would perform worse under standard, timed testing conditions than under relaxed time limit conditions was studied with 40 adolescents hospitalized for a variety of behavioral conditions. Performance increased under untimed conditions only in the area of reading comprehension. (Author/SEW)

The concepts of cognitive development and objectivity are explored preparatory to a discussion of a suitable theory of development to be used as the foundation for developmentally-based standardized tests. It is hypothesized that Piagetian theory is the most appropriate basis for such tests and two possible approaches for constructing…

This table presents the 90th, 75th, 50th 25th and tenth percentile groupings for the verbal and mathematical scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reported during the ten-year period between 1966-67 and 1975-76. A testing year is defined as extending from September to August; data are collected without regard to educational level or the…

This table provides the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Achievement Test means and standard deviations for samples of candidates taking each of the 15 achievement tests offered in the Admissions Testing Program battery during the period 1966-67 to 1975-76. The samples, drawn annually through 1971-72 and biennially thereafter, provide…

Outlines and analyzes developments and issues in public examinations in the Caribbean region at the secondary school level. Focuses on the contribution of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). Discusses the CXC syllabi and examinations for biology, chemistry, and physics. (Contains 18 references.) (ASK)

This two-day conference heard from leaders on national trends in health manpower, with particular emphasis on the granting of equivalency credit for relevant experience. Presentations were made under these areas: opening doors to health careers, national trends in allied health testing, innovative approaches to allied health equivalency testing in…

Research on assessing the cultural fairness of individual test items is reviewed, with emphasis on Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model. As defined in this review, differential item characteristics are exhibited when examinees from one group have a lower probability of answering correctly than do examinees of equal ability from another group.…

Project TALENT, a large scale, long range, longitudinal study, is designed primarily to provide insights into the characteristics and development of American adolescents. In order to compare trends in test results, a comprehensive battery of Psychological, educational, and personality measures were administered to participants in the 1960, 1970,…