Current practice in language testing has not yet integrated classical test theory with assessment of language skills. In addition, language testing needs to be part of theory development. Lack of sound testing procedures can lead to problems in research design and ultimately, inappropriate theory development. The debate over dimensionality of…

How data gathered through item response theory (IRT) analysis can be used to give immediate diagnostic information without a computer is explained. The Kidmap, developed by B. D. Wright and others (1980), provides clear information in a visual manner. Its major problem lies in the need for a computer and suitable software to construct a Kidmap.…

Tables of specifications are used to guide test developers in sampling items and maintaining consistency from form to form. This paper is a generalizability study of the American College Testing Program (ACT) Achievement Program Mathematics Test (AAP), with the content areas of the table of specifications representing multiple dependent variables.…

This paper describes the development and validation of the Perception of Parents Scale (POPS), which was designed to measure the transformation in parent-child relations from the initial positions of authority and obedience to the mature position of mutual reciprocity. A 51-item, 4-point Likert scale was designed. Items were divided into three…

Extending the earlier work of B. M. Byrne and P. Baron (1990), the factorial invariance of the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was tested using 351 non-clinical adolescent males and 334 non-clinical adolescent females. All subjects were in grades 9 through 12 and attended the same secondary school in a large metropolitan area in central…

Biographical inventory is a selection device used as an alternative or supplement to cognitive testing because this measurement method predicts aspects of job performance that are not predicted by cognitive measures. Some of the issues and concerns about using biographical inventories are discussed. The use of biographical inventories (biodata) is…

Two studies of influences on self-regulated performance were conducted. The purpose of the first was to determine if the level of performance of college students would be higher if the allowable length of the assignment was greater or smaller. Subjects were 126 education majors at a large state university participating in an extra-credit program…

This paper describes a four-step approach to constructing a diagnostic test that provides precise but practical information on students' problems and needs for additional instruction or remediation. The approach is based on analyzing the structure of the domain to determine which skills within the domain need to be assessed to diagnose students'…

The South Carolina Trade Examinations for Trade and Industrial Education teachers are administered semi-annually by the South Carolina State Department of Education, Office of Vocational Education, Vocational Teacher Education Programs Unit. This handbook is designed to provide prospective trade and industrial education teachers, vocational…

This paper documents the achievement monitoring component of a three-year study on the acquisition of addition-subtraction problem-solving skills by young children. A set of performance objectives contained in or ancillary to ten instructional units on sentence-writing for verbal problems and algorithms specified test content. Tests measuring…

Providing instructors an efficient way to acquire a well-defined, tailored test for a given student, or group of students, the Item Bank deals in multiple-choice, Rasch-calibrated problems which are deposited under two subject areas: reading and mathematics. Users can obtain a test which is appropriate to what their migrant students have been…

Research-extensive land-grant institutions face the unique challenge of asking faculty to fulfill a historic mission of public service in a time of scarce resources. This article discusses the parallel between the effects of resource dependency and academic capitalism on the research enterprise and on public service endeavors through the…

This study investigated the transfer of solution strategies between close variants of quantitative reasoning questions. Pre- and posttests were obtained from 406 college undergraduates, all of whom took the same posttest; pretests varied such that one group of participants saw close variants of one set of posttest items while other groups saw…

A panel of expert referees from the Philadelphia school district categorized items from secondary-level standardized mathematics tests according to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) subobjectives for mathematics. The following tests were covered by the study: (1) California Achievement Tests (Levels 19 and 20); (2) Comprehensive…

Mathematics 30 is a 12th-grade mathematics course for students in Alberta, Canada. This document is the final test for the course. Intended for administration during June 1989, it contains 45 multiple-choice questions, 7 open-ended machine scorable questions, and 3 written-response questions. Two-and-one-half hours are allowed for completing the…