The framework and specifications for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment were developed in 1991-92 and field tested in 1993. The assessment was postponed, however, and will be administered in 1996. The framework calls for performance-based tasks that probe students' abilities to use materials to make…

The House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to look at school testing as it exists, to estimate its extent and cost, and to assess how a new national test might affect those factors. GAO gathered information from a variety of sources, including a 1991 survey with replies from 48 states…

The resources necessary to create, administer, and score performance assessments in science were studied. RAND and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) designed performance tasks for science in grades five and six as part of a larger study of the feasibility of science performance assessment. Tasks were developed in pairs in task…

A preliminary investigation has been made of some claims regarding alternative assessment. Using the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS)--Middle Grades Mathematics Performance Assessment as a platform, the study examined how alternative assessment operates in actual practice. Early findings are presented in the following areas: (1)…

This report, part of a series of documents which describe assessment of student learning in various curriculum areas, focuses on assessment of student learning in the mathematics classroom, beginning with an overview of current curriculum goals in mathematics. The rationale for reforming the content, instructional practices, and assessment methods…

Across the field of educational assessment the case has been made for alternatives to the multiple-choice item type. Most of the alternative types of items require a subjective evaluation by a rater. The reliability of this subjective rating is a key component of these types of alternative items. In this paper, measures of reliability are…

Science assessment has been included with mathematics and language assessment on the international level since the 1970s. This paper discusses techniques of assessment that have been utilized to measure science process skills. The first section discusses the Assessment Performance Unit, a British project with the aim of developing innovative…

Problems with performance assessment (PA) and multiple-choice tests (MCTs) are outlined, with reference to the literature on accountability. PA for individual teachers who should integrate their assessments with their instruction; PA as a supplement to more traditional examinations for licensure decisions; and some limited, experimental tryouts of…

This study investigates the extent to which beginning to advanced students of English as a second language (ESL) understand antecedent/anaphora relationships in written discourse. The findings are related to previous research on anaphoric reference in first and second language contexts, emphasizing the significance of this factor in measurement of…

Selecting elite students out of a huge collective is a difficult task. The main problem is to provide automated processes to reduce human work. ECMS (Educational Contest Management System) is an online tool approach to help--fully or partly automated--with the task of selecting such elite students out of a mass of candidates. International tests…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) includes the following eight short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama: "Loyalties" (Roo Borson); "Clever Animals" (Lewis Thomas); "Death of…

The University of Texas at Austin conducted a validity study of the College Board Achievement Test in Russian Listening-Reading during the 1986-87 academic year. The test, a multiple-choice test with audio-taped and reading portions, was administered to 298 students in 22 sections of 8 courses in Russian. The purpose was to revalidate the test as…

A study investigated the retention and loss of school-learned foreign language skills. Subjects were 150 students of Dutch secondary schools with 4 or 6 years of French language instruction and 0, 2, and 4 years of disuse. Nine tests of general language proficiency, listening and reading comprehension, phonology, vocabulary, and grammar were…

The Board of Regents of South Dakota's public colleges and universities decided in 1984 to implement a Value-Added Testing program (an exit test required for graduation) modelled on the Northeast Missouri State University plan. The plan was intended to increase student learning, improve curricular design, and encourage excellent teaching.…

Intended for both teachers and students, this bulletin presents specific information about the design, parts, and scoring of the Grade 9 English Language Arts Achievement Test for the 1985-86 school year in Alberta, Canada. General information is presented regarding the (1) purpose and nature of the Achievement Testing Program (ATP), (2) students…