This booklet provides parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers with information about achievement testing which is relevant to their needs. The first section presents an overview of the current market for standardized achievement tests and provides key definitions, distinctions between ability and achievement testing, comparisons of…

In the 1992-93 school year, in response to a request from the Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD), the district's Office of Research and Evaluation conducted a retrospective examination of the 1991-92 AISD programs to determine cost-effectiveness when possible. This report describes the review process.…

This study compared the scores of 60 students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology at Phoenix College (Arizona) to national norms on the Study Skills Inventory. The study also analyzed gender differences and compared ethnic groups and age groups. Results indicated that the Phoenix College sample closely reflected the national norm. No clear…

Results are summarized for a number of tests administered to secondary school students in Idaho. A description of each test and the students tested is provided, as well as the purposes of the test and a brief summary of results. Two tests administered especially in Idaho are included. The Idaho Proficiency Test, a criterion referenced test of…

Early childhood teachers generally have not recognized that assessment is a necessary adjunct to effective teaching, but instead have concluded that it is the concern of special educators or program evaluators. In fact, assessment can play a most important role in planning for and instructing all children. Assessment can be defined as a conscious,…

Based on the hypothesis that a major deterrent to women seeking enrollment in vocational programs is the attitudes and misunderstandings of secondary school girls regarding such programs, a study designed to identify and assess the attitudes, perceptions, understandings, and conditions for enrollment of adolescent girls in vocational programs was…

This issue of Measurement in Education is presented in the form of a dialogue between Dr. Robert L. Ebel, Distinguished Professor of Educational Measurement at Michigan State University, and Dr. Samual A. Livingston, Program Research Scientist at the Educational Testing Service. Alternative views on some aspects of the use of tests in assessing…

As a result of using the Rasch model in building item banks in reading and mathematics, we were able to design two new testing programs for our district. The first was a grade level competency-based evaluation program designed to identify our district's low achievement-level students as well as the precompetency goals on which they needed help.…

A large number of seemingly diverse coefficients have been proposed as indices of dependability, or reliability, for domain-referenced and/or mastery tests. In this paper, it is shown that most of these indices are special cases of two generalized indices of agreement: one that is corrected for chance, and one that is not. The special cases of…

This bulletin discusses current issues and practices in social studies assessment, ways to improve testing, and methodologies to strengthen the validity, reliability, and value of tests. The primary purpose of the bulletin is to bring the social studies profession up to date about the issues and strategies involving criterion-referenced testing.…

Technical considerations associated with item selection and reliability assessment are considered in relation to criterion-referenced tests constructed to provide group information. The purpose is to emphasize test building and the evaluation of test scores in program evaluation studies. It is stressed that an evaluator employ a performance or…

The potential use of criterion referenced tests (CRT) and norm referenced tests (NRT) in the same testing program is discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of each are listed, and the best solution, a merging, is proposed. To merge CRTs and NRTs into an overall testing program, meaningful and useful to all levels, consideration must be given…

The Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD), which was designed for remedial programming of children with language disorders, mental retardation, and specific language problems, was given to 13 cerebral palsied preschoolers along with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Time and environmental constraints required considerabLe…

State Departments of Education are turning to the use of criterion referenced, as opposed to norm referenced, models for statewide assessment. The underlying assumption in this turn of events is that results generated by criterion referenced tests within the statewide assessment context permit the drawing of value inferences about the…