Previous research has studied the effects of different methods of item option weighting on the reliability and concurrent and predictive validity of achievement tests. Increases in reliability are generally found, but with mixed results for validity. Several methods of producing option weights, (i.e., Guttman internal and external weights and…

A 3 x 3 x 2 factorial design was used with 120 undergraduate subjects to study the effects of question type on learning from prose. A 2,000-word reading passage on geological history was presented, with factual questions on each page. Questions were also presented after the reading activity. When compared to a reading only control group, the short…

The Emory Word Analysis Skill Inventory (EWASI) was developed to diagnose individual word analysis skill abnormalities exhibited by students enrolled in private tutoring in the Emory University (Georgia) Reading Center. In the EWASI, 13 subscales contain three broad categories--consonants, vowels, and word structure. The goal, however, is to…

A monte carlo simulation was conducted to assess the effects in an adaptive testing strategy for test batteries of varying subtest order, subtest termination criterion, and variable versus fixed entry on the psychometric properties of an existent achievement test battery. Comparisons were made among conventionally administered tests and adaptive…

As part of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, a sample of approximately 2,000 fourth and seventh grade students were tested in music and metric measurement. Teachers and curriculum specialists helped to develop individualized tests which could measure the attainment of objectives that could not be tested with group-administered items,…

The Preschool Preposition Test (PPT) is a receptive language test which examines the comprehension of verbal directions using spatial prepositions or prepositional phrases, together with manipulative objects. The 23 items ask the child to place a ball in back of or into another object, and so on. The test is designed for 3 to 5-year old children…

Volunteer college students were assigned to one of six computer administered vocabulary tests, one half with immediate knowledge of results (KR) after responding to each item, and the other half without knowledge of results. The six tests were designed to be at one of three levels of difficulty and consisted either of 50 preselected items…

The paper describes a study of the scope of geography achievement tests and the social studies components of national achievement tests. The research examined whether the tests' items were (1) directed primarily toward testing knowledge at the recall/memory level, and (2) comprehensive in their treatment of the discipline. Ten tests were analyzed,…

It was hypothesized that the cognitive structures which underlie performance on class-inclusion tasks also underlie reading comprehension of the stated or inferred main idea of a paragraph, and that performance on three-dimensional class-inclusion tasks developmentally precedes performance on two-dimensional class-inclusion tasks. Ten kindergarten…

The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) critical data base contains 151 items (plus background information) from the base year and followup questionnaires; about thirty-seven percent of all items. This set of critical items consists of: (1) basic demographic variables; (2) items necessary for defining activity states…

An empirical review of test items is described as an essential step in criterion-referenced test development. The concept of test items' instructional sensitivity is introduced, and research is briefly reviewed which describes four theoretical contexts in which instructional sensitivity indexes have been observed: criterion-referenced; classical…

Various operational definitions of test bias are discussed including those which involve rater judgment, statistical methods which use an external criterion, and statistical methods in which no external criterion is used. It is concluded that the Rasch model provides a theoretically acceptable method for detecting item bias. The Rasch Model is…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered the selected supplemental mathematics exercises to 13-year-old students during October and November 1975 and to 17-year-old students during March and April 1976. This assessment represents a specially modified supplement to 1972-73 full-scale mathematics assessment and was…

This package contains self-paced training materials for mental health aides, designed to increase career mobility for lower grade Civil Service employees by preparing them to pass a Civil Service examination for upgrading. Procedures are described whereby the materials were developed by educational personnel at several adult education centers and…

This bulletin provides information about the Florida Teacher Certification Examination. It describes the development of the examination and presents the specifications for each of the subtests. Competencies and subskills are tested in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and professional education. The tentative examination schedule is…