Three political scientists, three historians, three social studies professors (higher education), and seven secondary school teachers of social studies or history were interviewed. Focus was on assessing key concepts in the subjects' disciplines and what concepts should be taught and tested for at the high school level, with a view toward…

Sources of item bias located in characteristics of the test item were studied in a reasoning test developed in South Africa. Subjects were 1,056 White, 1,063 Indian, and 1,093 Black students from standard 7 in Afrikaans and English schools. Format and content of the 85-item Reasoning Test were manipulated to obtain information about bias or…

Suggestions for students, parents, and teachers on how to prepare students to take standardized tests are presented. The value of deliberate efforts to teach students test-taking skills is supported by research. Activities to prepare students include the following: (1) teachers should develop some of their tests and worksheets in formats similar…

One in a series of reading, writing, and mathematics subject booklets offered to acquaint teachers with the skills tested in each content area on the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test, this booklet on reading presents material that can be used in lesson planning and preparation of materials to ensure coverage of all skills throughout the…

A questionnaire concerning the use of teacher made tests was completed by 123 public school teachers in Ohio. Five testing practices were examined: (1) number of teacher made tests given during a course or school year; (2) types of test items most commonly used; (3) sources used in obtaining test items; (4) information used in assigning grades;…

A method for understanding and controlling the multiple facets of an oral examination (OE) or other judge-intermediated examination is presented and illustrated. This study focused on determining the extent to which the facets model (FM) analysis constructs meaningful variables for each facet of an OE involving protocols, examiners, and…

This paper describes the characteristics of the Minimum Skills Diagnostic Tests (MSDTs) components of the statewide testing program in North Carolina. The MSDTs' validity, method for deriving test scores, reliability and other statistics, test content, and test norms are discussed. These tests--given in grades 3, 6, and 8--assess an individual's…

The Charleston County School District (CCSD) has recently begun development of criterion-referenced tests (CRT) in different subject areas and for different grade levels. This paper outlines the process that CCSD followed in the development of math and language arts tests for grades one through eight and area exams for required high school…

This report describes courseware for comprehensive computer-assisted testing and instruction. With this program, a personal computer can be used to: (1) generate multiple test versions to meet test objectives; (2) create study guides for self-directed learning; and (3) evaluate student and teacher performance. Numerous multiple-choice examples,…

The feasibility of pre-equating, or establishing conversions from raw to scaled scores through the use of pretest data before operationally administering a test, was investigated for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Item-response theory based equating methods were used to estimate item parameters on SAT pretest data, instead of using final form…

A new counselee assessment/occupational exploration system provides for assessing a counselee's occupational qualifications in relation to an interest- and aptitude-oriented occupational structure and then encouraging occupational exploration in those areas which show the greatest promise of meeting the counselee's interests, values, and…

Reading and mathematics tests of the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills Tests were modified to accomodate handicapped students, in order to determine whether or not students would perform better on the modified test forms. Changes were made in the format of the test booklets, answer sheets, and administration instructions to accomodate the following…

Outlines a method to write multiple (four) versions of each examination. Reviews some advantages and disadvantages of multiple-choice and open-ended problems. Considers the writing and grading techniques used. Reports that the examination met the consistency requirement and received a good evaluation from students. (YP)

Student testing in Japan is not effectively used. In many cases test results are used only for ranking and sorting students into whatever the designated purposes of the tests are. They are not focused on monitoring individual student progress. This is an especially inadequate approach for teaching oral communications courses. This paper proposes a…

Performance of 156 undergraduate and 48 graduate students on a self-adapted test (SFAT)--students choose the difficulty level of their test items--was compared with performance on a computer-adapted test (CAT). Those taking the SFAT obtained higher ability scores and reported lower posttest state anxiety than did CAT takers. (SLD)