The results of the program of credit by examination at the University of Texas at Austin during the 1986-1987 testing year are presented. The data provide a basis for a comprehensive picture of the impact of the program on this campus. The examinations covered 51 subject areas with 171 courses taught in 36 departments/divisions in 8 colleges and…

This paper presents an overview of recent psychological research relevant to the assessment and instruction of culturally and linguistically different students. First, general research by cross-cultural psychologists is described, focusing on the observation that types of thinking and learning behavior are influenced by social organization and…

A curriculum guide is presented for three sequential courses in Latin at the high school level in the Province of Alberta. The guide includes the following: outlines of goals and objectives, the rationale for including Latin in a high school program, specific minimum expectations at the end of the third course for each language skill (listening,…

A curriculum guide is presented for three sequential courses in Italian at the senior high school level in the Province of Alberta. The guide includes the following: outlines of goals and objectives, the rationale for the inclusion of Italian in a high school program, specific minimum expectations at the end of the third course for each language…

Materials to be used in workshops to teach language teacher trainees the communicative approach to language testing are presented. The materials were developed from a 1985 Council of Europe workshop held in York, England. They include preliminary notes for workshop organizers, an introductory "ice-breaker" activity, and six content…

Curriculum alignment means determining precisely what is intended to be taught, teaching that specifically, and measuring specifically what was taught. This paper contends that the alignment of objectives, actual teaching, and the means and content of testing are essential to effective schooling. The logical arguments of three authorities--Wilbur…

The testing effect is a phenomenon that may be described as follows: following the reading of a prose passage, a group of students who are given a posttest on the passage immediately or shortly afterward will later recall more of the passage on a retention test than will a similar group of students who are not given the posttest. Testing as a…

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…

A program was developed at the University of Pittsburgh to improve the English language proficiency of foreign teaching assistants (TA's) in order to alleviate communication problems between them and the undergraduates in their classes. Three aspects of the program are described: (1) interdepartmental procedures, (2) testing procedures, and (3)…

Practical and technical aspects of language testing research are considered in 23 articles. Topical areas include: testing of general proficiency; the hypothesis of a single unitary factor accounting for reliable variance in tests; the structure of language proficiency; pros and cons of cloze testing; a new functional testing approach; and…

The Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP) is a program of CEMREL, Inc., one of the national educational laboratories, and was funded by the National Institute of Education (NIE). Its major purpose is the development of curriculum materials for kindergarten through grade 6. One of the most important questions in the evaluation of CSMP is…

The HPI Texas Preschool Screening Inventory (TPSI) is a test to help determine which children might be a risk for learning problems as they enter kindergarten or first grade. The HPI Manual describes the procedure, score interpretation, and rationale for seven components of the test, including auditory memory for numbers and letters, visual memory…

Teachers' perspectives on the student assessment process and on the role of testing in that process are presented. Primarily ethnographic in approach, this study includes investigations of teachers' ideas and thought processes as well as observation of actual classroom practice. Six elementary teachers participated in a three-stage process of…

Following a brief discussion of some characteristics of the Amish culture and schools, data from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills are reported for 23 pupils in grades 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 in Pleasant Hill School near Bloomfield, Iowa. Thirteen pupils scored at or above the fifteenth percentile in mathematics concepts; 17 were at or above that level in…

This bulletin reports some of the findings from an analysis of assessments in mathematics that have been conducted in 32 states. Note is made of the variability in state reports, which make data comparisons implausible. Trends, however, could be observed. Each state department was contacted for a copy of the most recent mathematics assessment…