This research aimed at developing a methodological framework to investigate the alignment of the Lebanese national math exam tests with the curriculum at the middle school level, during the transitory period of a major curricular reform. The focus is on exploring the characteristics of an "assessment culture" set by the national exams…

The validity of the Southam News 1987 survey of literacy in Canada was questioned relative to its content and structure. The survey viewed literacy as a set of complex information processing skills and adopted a hierarchical view of these skills. This hierarchy model set up illiteracy as a deficiency. The Southam study's underlying assumption was…

The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required that states provide alternate assessments for students unable to participate in the statewide assessment systems (e.g., those with severe disabilities). IDEA mandated that alternate assessments access the general curriculum. This study examined the curricular…

The Test of Problem Solving (TOPS) was evaluated by 20 speech-language clinicians based on designer claims that the test assesses integration of semantic, linguistic, and reasoning ability and taps skills needed for academic and social acceptance. Results challenged the content validity of the test. (Author/DB)

Examines the issue of giving English-language oral proficiency examinations in overseas English-medium universities as part of student evaluations. An oral test given at Jordan's Yarmouk University is reviewed showing an attempt to administer biannual, oral-communicative-proficiency tests to 1,000 students at a time. (24 references) (GLR)

Two mathematics curricula ("Distar Arithmetic" and "Scott Foresman Mathematics" and two arithmetic tests ("KeyMath" and the "Iowa Tests of Basic Skills" for grades one-three were examined for correspondence of content and types of learning required. A consistent lack of content correspondence was found among…

Violations of item unidimensionality on language tests produced distorted estimates of person ability, and violations of person unidimensionality produced distorted estimates of item difficulty. The Bejar Method was sensitive to such distortions. (Author)

Describes the development and teaching uses of the Gender-Specific Language Scale (GSLS), an instrument designed to assess recognition of sexist language. Results from three experiments assessing GSLS reliability and validity are presented that suggest that the GSLS measures a different construct than an essay questionnaire used in previous…

Describes the development of a placement test specifically designed for students entering Pembroke State University. Includes question construction and suitable test standards in discussing the features of a good placement test. Concludes that the test provides a reliable measure of students potential success. (MDH)

Examines the principal assessment process in measuring accountability for facilitating academic improvement. The article raises several conceptual and methodological issues on developing principal assessment models, provides data on issues in the development of evaluation models for principal assessment, and presents a basic model for principal…

The use of content validity as the primary assurance of the measurement accuracy for science assessment examinations is questioned. An alternative accuracy measure, item validity, is proposed. Item validity is based on research using qualitative comparisons between (1) student answers to objective items, (2) clinical interviews, and (3) student…

Presents a general discussion of the conceptual and operational limitations found within the existing efforts to assess constructs central to the study of parents. The discussion is followed by a review and critique of measures designed to assess concepts central to research on parents. Includes recommendations to improve the quality of measures.…

This study presents the development of a 91-item instrument to measure what pre-service teachers know about effective teaching in urban schools. The instrument, Teaching in Urban Schools Scale, was piloted and then refined and conducted with 248 graduate students in a teacher education program. Validity of the scale was investigated and revealed…

In this article, the authors describe an alignment and content analysis of the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment (WAA) for students with disabilities. The WAA is an assessment of the academic performance of students with significant disabilities and is an alternative to the traditional on-demand achievement test. Alternate assessments like the WAA…

One of the many responsibilities teacher-librarians have recently assumed is the development of their school library's web site. Such site provide an organic "window" to the library's programs, services and resources that can be accessed by students, teachers, administrators, parents and community members. As such, they represent another vital…