This symposium consists of five papers and presents some recent developments in adaptive testing which have applications to several military testing problems. The overview, by James R. McBride, defines adaptive testing and discusses some of its item selection and scoring strategies. Item response theory, or item characteristic curve theory, is…

All second and third graders in California public schools were administered the Reading Test of the California Assessment Program; performance of all sixth and twelfth graders in reading, written expression, spelling, and mathematics was assessed with the Survey of Basic Skills. Findings were compared to those of previous years and can be…

To determine if tryout samples typically used for item selection contribute to test bias against minority groups, item analyses were made of the California Achievement Tests using seven subgroups of the standardization sample: Northern White Suburban, Northern Black Urban, Southern White Suburban, Southern Black Rural, Southern White Rural,…

This textbook is intended for use in an introductory course in the use of tests in schools and colleges. The book is divided into five parts: (1) history and philosophy--educational measurement, historical perspectives; Measurement and the process of education; (2) classroom test development--what should achievement tests measure?; How should…

In 2004, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) conducted an assessment of a sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students across Australia to assess their proficiency in civics and citizenship. The assessment of civics and citizenship is part of a national plan that is being put progressively in place to…

Three approaches to the construction of achievement tests are compared: construct, operational, and empirical. The construct approach is based upon classical test theory and measures an abstract representation of the instructional objectives. The operational approach specifies instructional intent through instructional objectives, facet design,…

This case study recounts the attempts of two school districts to improve decision making on the adoption of a new elementary social studies curriculum by using formal evaluation methodology. The study's main objective was to develop a series of criterion referenced (mastery level) tests from a list of social studies objectives to determine whether…

This manual is intended to serve as a step-by-step guide to writing criterion-referenced tests. It includes directions on constructing and scoring various types of test items to measure each level of cognitive function. The manual gives a method for writing, analyzing and rewriting instructional objectives; preparing a content outline; matching…

The Milwaukee Bilingual Education Program has been guided by behavioral objectives related to desired pupil, staff, management, parent and community outcomes. The objectives were developed and revised mainly by curriculum supervisors. Frequent references are made to two publications, "Milwaukee Public Schools Bilingual Elementary Program…

The great growth in college enrollments, the changes in the availability of positions for college graduates, and the development in the science of testing go hand-in-hand in making the problem of the prediction of college success of greater importance than ever before. This bulletin brings the attention of educators upon the work which has been …

Examines textbook-test alignment in the social studies curriculum. Defines alignment as review items conceptually and contextually matching test items. Indicates research that shows critically low alignment levels between review and test items, providing examples from a fifth grade textbook. Outlines five steps by which teachers can develop…

The development of the Student Selection Battery for the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study is described. This battery, which measures reading and mathematics achievement in second and fifth grade students, will be used to select target students for the study of teaching effectiveness. Methodological considerations included: the limited amount of…

A review of the literature on the validity and reliability of survey data is presented prior to an analysis of the reliability of selected questions in the Second Followup Questionnaire of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS). The reliability study includes an evaluation of test-retest reliability as a function of…

The results are presented of the validation study of reading and mathematics criterion referenced tests, administered to South Carolina students in grades 3, 6, and 8. This testing was mandated by state law to field test a competency based assessment program. The study was based on three activities: (1) test selection; (2) content validation; and…

This report summarizes results of the Spring 2007 Austin Independent School District high school students' exit survey, with comparative results from previous years.