The implications that cognitive approaches to the study of reading can have for the assessment of reading achievement are discussed. Research in word decoding, semantic access, sentence processing, and discourse analysis is summarized with emphasis on processing efficiency required in one area affecting performance in another area. (Author/CM)

This report describes how one of our nation's largest urban school systems works through the complexities of diverse testing programs, testing schedules, and students to produce timely results that help students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to produce sound decisions about learning. (Author)

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), initially developed for undergraduate medical education, has been adapted for assessment of clinical skills in podiatry students. A 12-month pilot study found the test had relatively low levels of reliability, high construct and criterion validity, and good stability of performance over time.…

Examines the relationship between childrens scores on a standardized test of musical aptitude, Gordons Primary Measures of Music Audiation, and their performance on specific musical tasks. Suggests a need for a type of test that provides a broader perspective of childrens musical abilities, since there is no correlation between the test and tasks.…

For some districts, the current obsession with data grows out of the need to comply with No Child Left Behind and additional accountability-related mandates. For others, it dates way back before the phrase "data-driven decision making" rolled so frequently off the tongues of educators. In either case, there is no denying that an integral…

This book on language tests and test use for English as a second language is aimed at both experienced and inexperienced teachers in both grade school and adult education. The text begins with an introduction to the history of language testing, including its value for both students and teachers, and its current state and types of tests available.…

Cloze tests assess the readability of a book for students in a far more personal way than formulas or standardized tests of reading comprehension. The cloze procedure reflects the total language abilities in the following ways: familiarity with sentence structure, context clues, and vocabulary, and the ability to draw inferences from written…

Guidelines are given assessing the community living skills of deaf students through an adaptation of the Street Survival Skills Questionnaire (SSSQ), which was originally designed for developmentally disabled or handicapped adolescents and adults. Adaptations include consideration of situational factors (such as visual distractions) and the…

Reports on a study in which students in a first-year engineering materials class were asked to grade their own examinations, and those of others. Comparisons were then made to the same papers graded by their teachers. (TW)

The accuracy and fairness of standardized testing is taken very seriously in the education world. These issues are a major focus of both the testing experts who develop standardized tests and the researchers who endeavor to ensure a test's fairness, reliability, validity, and accuracy. But many issues remain both controversial and complex. The…

Suggests that the aims and objectives of the British 16+ public examination in English are so watered-down as to be useless. (HOD)

Relates why educators should embrace tests as tools for transforming teaching and learning. States that rigorous and meaningful testing can help ensure the academic achievement of all students. Further, useful education assessments must make clear what they measure, and they must measure what educators value most. (Contains six references.) (WFA)

Reports that 26 of 199 responding colleges require the Fundamentals of Engineering examination. States that of the 26, 16 require it to be taken college-wide and 3 require the student to pass. It was estimated that fewer than half of all graduating engineering students take the exam. (MVL)

An Oregon Health Sciences University medical school experiment adapted the quarterly Objective Structured Clinical Examination, in which medical students interact with standardized patients, to accommodate 23 small groups rather than 94 individual students at each testing station. Results indicated the method favorably influenced students,…

Discusses what the term "High-Stakes Testing" means; concerns about high-stakes testing; whether testing is an important part of good educational design; why using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems; whether test scores improve when high-stakes assessment is mandated; and ways to help states monitor student success in the curriculum.…