This guide is designed to help parents gain a better understanding of testing and its role in the education of their children. It answers the following questions: (1) What are standardized tests? (2) What do standardized test scores tell me about my child? (3) How are standardized test scores used? (4) What are the limitations of standardized…

This resource guide was designed for teachers and administrators in Arizona school districts to assist them in preparing functional and meaningful programs of student achievement testing. The format of the guide is based on fundamental questions often posed by educators regarding norm-referenced and criterion-referenced testing. Particular…

Alternative mathematical models for scoring and decision making with criterion referenced tests are described, especially as they concern appropriate test length and methods of establishing statistically valid cutting scores. Several of these approaches are reviewed and compared on formal-analytic and empirical grounds: (1) Block's approach to…

This instructor's guide is designed to be used as a reference and as an aid in implementing the companion volume, a competency based curriculum guide to train legal secretaries (legal stenographers, court reporters, or law reporters). Introductory sections describe briefly the methods of identification and validation of job titles and competencies…

Several measurement theorists have convincingly argued that methods of writing test questions, particularly for criterion-referenced tests, should be based on operationally defined rules. This study was designed to examine and further refine a method for objectively generating multiple-choice questions for prose instructional materials. Important…

Several intermediate performance objectives and corresponding criterion measures are listed for each of the three categories (American Industries Orientation, Agriculture, and Construction) included in this first of a two-volume course guide on American industries. The materials were developed for a 9- to 12-week course for seventh grade students…

The papers in this volume represent both theory and application in reading research. The topics are as follows: research on programs for poor readers; a method for teaching children who have reading difficulties even though they have learned decoding skills; a decade of research on reading and learning disabilities; children's understanding of…

The need for better validation of professional licensing and certification examinations is discussed in Part I. Predictive criterion-related validation studies are difficult to develop, time consuming, impractical and expensive. Since training and knowledge variables are not necessarily sufficient to predict job proficiency, it appears logical to…

The State Summary of Results presents a compilation of the scores of Michigan's fourth and seventh grade students who participated in the educational assessment along with discussion of the possible meaning and significance of the results. It also attempts to respond to the controversy which has surrounded the assessment program since its…

The test-development process used to develop criterion-referenced tests in reading for a large-city school district's system-wide testing program is described. Two types of instruments were developed: (a) a measure of students' ability to read text-books at their assigned grade levels and (b) tests of enabling skills emphasized in the basal…

Six current issues in the use of tests are examined in this paper. Are the tests used in education valid? In general and to a reasonably satisfactory extent they are. Is the emphasis these tests place on cognitive achievements a serious limitation? Because of the basic and pervasive role of cognition in human affairs, and in the absence of any…

The effects of the protocol film series, Concepts and Patterns in Teacher-Pupil Interaction, were measured by a film-based test after the test had undergone validation. The test, Categorizing Teacher Behavior, evidenced a high level of reliability and validity in a graduate level course in educational psychology. The test was judged valid by a…

Various procedures and guidelines have been suggested for the development and construction of criterion-referenced tests. The present paper proposes a comprehensive model which allows the user to identify and relate specific components which affect the optimal construction and implementation strategies of criterion-referenced tests. Furthermore,…

Described is a project to develop child-based measurement scales for assessing the achievement of handicapped children (birth to 8 years old) served by the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program (HCEEP) projects. In the first section, steps involved in the development of the Children's Early Education Developmental Inventory (CEEDI) are…

This final report of the linear process-product relationships in a 2-year study relates characteristics of teachers to measured student learning gains. Correlations are presented that relate teacher responses on an extensive questionnaire and in an interview to measures of student learning gain on five achievement tests. The sample involved 30…