Results from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for 5,392 elementary school students and from the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (multiple choice) for a national sample are used to explore local item independence (LID) of test items. Some strategies are suggested for measuring LID in performance assessments. (SLD)

A hurdles approach, where qualitatively different expectations are linked to higher grades is suggested as a way of challenging high performing students in large classes with extreme range in ability. Large classes and increasing range in student ability and preparedness as well as diverse student learning styles have made it difficult to design…

This study examined the relationship between environment-based education and high school students critical thinking skills and disposition toward critical thinking. Four hundred four 9th and 12th grade students from 11 Florida high schools participated in the study. A Pretest-Posttest Nonequivalent Comparison Group Design (9th grade) and a…

This article addresses an important problem that faces educators in assessing students' competence levels in learned tasks. Data from 165 students from Massachusetts and Minnesota in the United States are used to examine the validity of five assessment modes (multiple choice test, scenario, portfolio, self-assessment and supervisor rating) in…

To assess students' business writing abilities upon entry into the business program and exit from the capstone course, a multitiered assessment package was developed that measures students' achievement of specific learning outcomes and provides "value-added" scores. The online segment of the test measures five competencies across three process…

This digest discusses how well authentic mathematics assessment tests can be expected to meet the needs of mathematics instruction that focuses on conceptual insights and analytical skills. In the new mathematics curriculum, situational lessons or real-life problems attempt to include dimensions of thinking and reasoning, individual or small-group…

This paper describes a study that investigated the interchangeability of four different assessment methods for measuring middle-school students' understanding of science concepts. The four methods compared were hands-on tasks with associated multiple-choice and written justification items, written analogues of the hands-on tasks, and two types of…

This study investigated and compared the effects of two test formats (free response and multiple choice) on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners' reading comprehension. The tests, together with a checklist of test-taking strategies and retrospective questionnaires concerning more general reading strategies, were administered to 57 ESL…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of replacing multiple-choice questions in tutorial software practice interactions with a learning strategy (i.e., learner-generated summaries) on immediate recall. Subjects were 35 students--32 females and 3 males--from an undergraduate computer course in the College of Education at…

The California Assessment Program (CAP) administers tests to all public school students at certain grade levels, compiles the results, and provides information that allows educators to judge the effectiveness of their programs and make improvements. This sampler describes the types of assessment that CAP proposes to respond to the needed changes…

Using matched pairs of geography questions, a new testing method for machine-scored fill-in-the-blank, multiple-digit testing (MDT) questions was compared to the traditional multiple-choice (MC) style. Data were from 118 matched or parallel test items for 4 tests from 764 college students of geography. The new method produced superior results when…

A review of the recent literature has yielded a number of concerns about the validity, reliability, cost, efficiency, generalizability, utility, and cultural sensitivity of performance based assessments. The resulting conclusion was that continuing the performance based assessment initiative should be rethought. Suggested alternatives included…

Scholastic achievement tests and mental ability tests normally consist of a set of multiple choice items, all of which are assumed to measure school-relevant cognitive abilities. The presumption, in a given test situation, is that the answers/solutions to the given tasks represent cognitive capabilities on the part of the examinees. The purpose of…

Issues of the relative costs of multiple choice tests and alternative types of assessment are explored. Before alternative assessments in large-scale or small-scale programs are used, attention must be given to cost considerations and the resources required to develop and implement the assessment. Major categories of cost to be considered are…

Some potential relative advantages of performance assessment strategies over paper-and-pencil tests using short-answer and multiple-choice item formats are discussed. The major advantage of the multiple-choice test is its ability to sample a large number of learning outcomes efficiently. However, performance assessments are increasingly being used…