The type of cognitive processing most beneficial to memory may depend on the structure of the material and the type of retrieval test required. Relational encoding organizes words by their relationships, while item-specific encoding processes words on an individual basis. To obtain information on these cognitive processes as they relate to the use…

Suggested accommodations for mainstreamed secondary learning disabled students on teacher made tests are presented. Suggestions are grouped into general; format; and test taking modifications (presentation, recording, and scoring). Among the many suggestions made are the following: watch readability of questions; assure test is clearly printed;…

Examining the effects of spelling tests on spelling achievement, a study compared two methods of spelling evaluation: (1) the dictated word-sentence-word method, requiring students to write only the spelling words; and (2) the dictated-sentence method, requiring students to write entire sentences containing the spelling words. Two fourth-grade…

The method for questionnaire construction described in this paper makes it convenient to generate as many different forms for a questionnaire as there are respondents. The method is based on using the computer to produce the questionnaire forms themselves. In this way the items or subgroups of items of the questionnaire may be randomly ordered or…

A general model for the homogeneous case of the continuous response is proposed. The model is an expansion and generalization of the one proposed by the author in 1974, in which the open response situation is dealt with. In this generalized model, the closed response situation is dealt with, and it includes the model for the open response…

The purpose of this handbook is to acquaint principals and teachers with the California Achievement Tests, mandated by the Maryland State Department of Education. Reports of the test results are also discussed. The first chapter describes the test and provides examples of question formats. A table of the objectives measured is also included. The…

Two approaches to criterion-referenced measurement are described and contrasted--domain-referenced testing and mastery testing. This paper is organized according to ten issues or stages in test construction: (1) content domain specification; (2) item construction; (3) item domain specification; (4) item analysis; (5) item selection; (6) parallel…

The subject of constructing criterion-referenced tests is often researched, but many technical problems remain to be satisfactorily resolved. Foremost, criterion-referenced test developers need a comprehensive set of steps for construction. In this paper, 14 logical steps for building criterion-referenced tests that refer to several different…

The format of the final examinations in Conservative Dentistry in the Dental Schools of Great Britain and Ireland was investigated by means of a questionnaire sent to each of the dental schools in each country. Results are reported and the value of different parts of the examinations are discussed. (Author/RH)

This study examined the validity and reliability of a short obesity knowledge scale. A 12-item test was developed covering etiology of obesity, diseases related to obesity, weight loss techniques, and general information on obesity. Four test formats were compared, revealing that the scale needs further validation. (Author/MT)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of the variables "realism" and "context" on the performance of biology students on a visual test about the anatomy of a rat. The instruction was primarily visual with additional verbal information like Latin names and practical information about the learning task: dissecting a rat to gain…

This study examined the comparability of scores on the National Nurses Aides Assessment Program (NNAAP) test across language and administration condition groups for calibration and validation samples that were randomly drawn from the same population. A sample of 20,568 candidate responses to 1 test form was used. This examination is given in…

An earlier study (D. Koretz, 1997) found that Kentucky had been unusually successful in testing most students with disabilities, but it also found numerous signs of poor measurement, including differential item functioning (DIF) in mathematics, apparently excessive use of accommodations, and implausibly high mean scores for some groups of students…

With the advent of computer-based testing (CBT) and the need to increase the number of items available in computer adaptive test pools, the idea of item variants was conceived. An item variant can be defined as an item with content based on an existing item to a greater or lesser degree. Item variants were first proposed as a way to enhance test…

A simulation study was performed to determine whether a group's average percent correct in a content domain could be accurately estimated for groups taking a single test form and not the entire domain of items. Six Item Response Theory (IRT)-based domain score estimation methods were evaluated, under conditions of few items per content area per…