After some initial comments on Robert Calfee's discussion of ways in which theory and research in reading assessment can help decision makers, the author makes two points: (1) we need to provide a much better education for reading teachers than is currently being provided, and this will require radically larger amounts of time than are currently…

Latent trait test score theory is discussed primarily in terms of Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model, and with some reference to the Rasch model. Equations and graphic illustrations are given for item characteristic curves and item information curves. An example is given for a hypothetical 20-item adaptive test, showing cumulative results…

In developing tests for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) survey, methodological problems arose in three areas: curriculum, communication, and culture. Efforts to identify the core of common objectives and the penumbra of distinctive, sometimes partly shared but sometimes unique, goals operated…

This paper is a review of the methodological problems recently uncovered in studying the nature of teacher effectiveness and evaluating the performance of individual teachers. Four problems encountered in the literature are range of measurements, inconsistent instrumentation across similar studies, lack of a generic framework from which to select…

The implementation of a district-wide testing program requires careful consideration of credibility issues. These issues have been frequently overlooked or treated casually by test developers and users alike. It is well enough to study the reliability and validity issues involved when selecting instrumentation. It is also necessary to identify…

This experiment compares the effects of group reactive inhibition therapy and group reciprocal inhibition therapy with no treatment on the anxiety level of test-anxious college students. Twenty undergraduate students volunteered for the study and were assigned to either the reactive inhibition group, the reciprocal inhibition group, or the…

This study examined the effects of three variables on self-scoring accuracy and satisfaction with results on Holland's Self Directed Search. The sample consisted of 489 freshmen who took the SDS during orientation. The three independent variables were the test administrator's attitude toward the SDS (positive or neutral), the size of the group…

The current interest in an educational technology that stresses adaptation to individual student differences has resulted in such individualized systems as Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) and Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI). However, such systems are not the answer to an avoidance of standardization of students. No one has yet…

Confidence Weighting (CW), after Ebel, and Multiple Responding (MR), after Coombs, are compared empirically to determine which improved test reliability more in the case of a course pretest derived from the final examination. It was hypothesized that MR, which purportedly measures partial knowledge, would be more effective than CW, which measures…

Three major points covered by this report are (1) What are the demands for reading assessment and how have the demands increased?; (2) How adequately do present standardized reading tests meet these demands?; and (3) What possible approaches exist for developing assessment procedures which meet these demands? An extreme interest in finding out how…

There exist special problems in testing first-grade children. Orally administered yes-no tests reduce the problems found in the other types, but they have their own drawbacks. A solution to some of these drawbacks is the use of the matched-pair scoring technique. For each "yes" item on the test there is included a "reversed" or…

Developing practical achievement tests for use at the primary-grade level is a difficult task. Some problems encountered appear to be resolved by using verbally administered yes-no tests. But such tests are criticized as having a low reliability because they offer only two choices. Two modifications of the yes-no test have been proposed to…

A pretest-posttest design for measuring the effects of educational programs uses comparison groups consisting of pupils like those in the treatment group but not getting that particular treatment. Although the design is geared primarily to evaluation of Title I programs in large cities, it should also apply to other situations. The plan for…

Instruments and methods are considered by many the nuts and bolts of school testing programs, for both individuals and groups. Too often, the individual is lost in the machinery of such a school program, and data collected becomes the end product of appraisal and assessment. Programs of student appraisal procedures should be developed around eight…

The teaching performance test is a recently developed assessment technique designed to sharpen our teacher competence evaluation procedures. It assesses a teacher's ability to promote learner mastery of prespecified instructional objectives during a relatively short lesson designed by the teacher. The principal contributions of this paper are the…