The effects of group computer-based instruction and learning style on achievement and attitude were studied for 190 elementary school students in grades 4 and 5 in Austin (Texas). The cooperative learning methodology chosen for this study was "Learning Together." Learning Together is a cooperative learning method emphasizing five major…

The effects of closed-captioned educational video as an instructional tool for improving reading comprehension and learning retention for students in college developmental studies programs were studied. Subjects were 168 students in Developmental Studies English and reading classes at a regional university in the Southeast and 168 first-year…

This Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) criterion-referenced test item bank provides 696 multiple-choice items and 33 matching items for radiologic technology occupations. These job titles are included: radiologic technologist, chief; radiologic technologist; nuclear medicine technologist; radiation therapy technologist;…

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) established a Task Force on Student Assessment in the spring of 1990, which was designed to: review available information on testing principles and practices; make recommendations for reform of testing; and communicate its findings to NYSUT members. Ten recommendations were made, centering on the necessity…

Science process skills are described as a set of broadly transferable abilities, appropriate to all of the science disciplines and reflective of the true behavior of scientists. While science process skills have gained wide acceptance as an integral part of the science curricula, the development of valid and reliable instruments to assess those…

In this article, the author describes a new instructional design model and how it was applied to an educational planning and evaluation graduate class. The model is known as the "Isman model" and is described a five-step systematic planning process: (1) input; (2) process; (3) output; (4) feedback; and (5) learning. This process can be…

The rationale for and nature of the videotaped portion of the pedagogy test of the Content Mastery Examinations for Educators (CMEE) available in fall 1990 are evaluated. The videotape subtest described is expansive and time consuming, but appears to be effective and acceptable for its target audience of beginning teachers. Each form of the CMEE…

This paper summarizes an investigation of applications and issues in free response (FR) testing during 1989. It draws on ideas from the results of the National Educational Longitudinal Study 1988 (NELS:88) field test, a seminar series at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), working papers prepared for several FR testing applications, and…

The concepts of universe of admissible observation and universe of generalization from the generalizability theory were applied to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient of a licensure test. The internal consistency coefficient of a dichotomously scored test is identical to the intraclass correlation coefficient of a two-facet design.…

The traditional multiple-choice reading comprehension test of English as a second language, used in the Dutch school-leaving examinations, has been criticized for its apparent lack of construct validity. The Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement has conducted a number of studies to determine whether there is a different skill…

The effort to make the Connecticut Elementary Education Certification Examination (EECE) reflect the skills and knowledge essential to successful beginning teaching is described. This instrument is planned as part of an assessment system being created by the Connecticut State Department of Education. The first element of the program is a basic…

A total of 326 public school teachers of kindergarten through grade 12 responded to a survey about teacher-made tests, testing practices, and the availability of testing resources and guidelines. Testing practices and preferences were found to vary significantly by grade level, subject area, and length of teaching experience. School testing…

The Objective Test Scoring and Performance Rating (OTS-PR) system is a fully integrated set of 70 modular FORTRAN programs run on a VAX-8530 computer. Even with no knowledge of computers, the user can implement OTS-PR to score multiple-choice tests, include scores from external sources such as hand-scored essays or scores from nationally…

Some examinees' test-taking behavior may be so idiosyncratic that their scores are not comparable to the scores of more typical examinees. Appropriateness indices, which provide quantitative measures of response-pattern atypicality, can be viewed as statistics for testing a null hypothesis of normal test-taking behavior against an alternative…

This study deals with the application of the pragmatics research to EFL teaching. The study explored the effect of explicit metapragmatic instruction on the speech act comprehension of advanced EFL students. The speech acts of requesting, apologizing, and complaining were selected as the focus of teaching. Teacher-fronted discussions, cooperative…