This handbook exists to assist the staff of a Springfield, Illinois school district in implementing the district assessment program and to assist other local school units in developing and assessing an implementation program. Chapter 1 presents information on the philosophical and pragmatic background of comprehensive assessment programs, with…

Instructional sensitivity indices are compared from four perspectives: (1) criterion-referenced testing; (2) classical test theory; (3) item response theory; and (4) Bayesian theory. Instructional sensitivity is defined as the tendency of a test item to vary in difficulty as a function of instruction. The instructional sensitivity of the items in…

The writing skills item bank contain 82 objectives each represented by two writing prompts with criteria for holistic scoring. Grade levels covered are one through eight. The objectives deal with aspects of composition such as grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, logic, and creativity. The "items" are writing prompts to which the student…

The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) is a statewide testing program in reading and mathematics (with other subject areas tested on a sampling basis). The MEAP tests are administered every fall to all fourth, seventh, and tenth graders. This Handbook was developed to assist educators in analyzing, using, and reporting MEAP test…

A study examined the reading skills of minority and bilingual auto mechanics and office workers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in order to determine the relationship between the reading skills tested in competency-based exams given in high schools and those required for on-the-job performance. The first phase of the study included both…

The Georgia State Department of Education administers criterion-referenced tests to all fourth-, eighth-, and tenth-grade students enrolled in public schools throughout Georgia. The testing program was initiated in the spring of 1976 with the administration of criterion-referenced tests in reading, mathematics, and career development to students…

Social validity is an important factor to consider when assessing proposed social and educational programs. This study used survey data to investigate the reactions of both elementary students and teachers to the use of a formative evaluation system in reading. Specifically, this study examined students' knowledge about their performance,…

Physical education is a direct service which should be provided to all students with mental disabilities. Instruction in physical education should be guided by a comprehensive plan which outlines long-term goals and sequential objectives leading to attainment of these goals. The Achievement Based Curriculum model serves as an example of such a…

A survey to gather information concerning school district testing programs in Pennsylvania is reviewed. The information concerns the commercially produced norm referenced and criterion referenced achievement tests, as well as locally produced achievement tests used in the state's school districts. The Pennsylvania Division of Educational Testing…

A review of literature serves as the basis for a discussion of various aspects of criterion-referenced tests. The aspects discussed are: teaching and evaluation objectives, criterion- and norm-referenced measurement, stages in construction of criterion-referenced tests, construction and selection of items, test validity, and test reliability.…

The development and assessment of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT) is described in this paper. The first section, after a brief description of the test, outlines the development of the test, including its purpose, how it was tested and calibrated, its administration and scoring, use and interpretation of scores obtained, and statistical…

The migrant lifestyle, in which a student moves to a new school nearly three times per year, destroys the continuity of educational programs and contributes to abnormally high dropout rates. Educational testing can help improve educational continuity for migrant students by yielding valuable information about their levels of skills mastery so they…

The statewide implementation of the Georgia State Board of Education (GSBE) policy for high school graduation requirements was begun in September, 1980. It specifically stated that the GSBE would be responsible for assessing the basic skills, or learner skills, of students enrolled in public schools. It further stated that each local school system…

This publication, the third in a series on drafting, is intended to strengthen students' competence in the specialized field of mechanical drafting. The text consists of instructional materials for both teacher and students, written in terms of student performance using measurable objectives. The course includes 11 units. Each instructional unit…

This military-developed text contains four volumes of materials for use in training apprentice still photography specialists. Covered in the individual volumes are the following topics: general subjects (safety and environmental protection); still photographic fundamentals (sensitized black and white film materials, photographic exposure, still…