From November 8 to December 12, 2007, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., on behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, interviewed 301 employers whose companies have at least 25 employees and report that 25% or more of their new hires hold at least a bachelor's degree from a four-year college. Employers are satisfied…

Many districts and schools across the U. S. have begun to develop and administer assessments to complement state testing systems and provide additional information to monitor curriculum, instruction and schools. In advance of this trend, the Jackson Public Schools (JPS) district has had a district benchmark testing system in place for many years.…

Adapting training methods to specific teacher traits to best facilitate the training effects for preservice teachers is an important, yet neglected, topic in aptitude-treatment interaction research. This study investigated interactions between four personal traits (CT-dispositions, thinking styles, CT-skills, and intrapersonal intelligence) and…

Alternatives to a solitary testing format can involve students working in teams to arrive at the correct answer. We compared two group assessment methods, cooperative and competitive, to a solitary testing approach. In most comparisons examining the undergraduate respondents' (N = 77) performance, the two group-testing methods were equivalent.…

Schools of education (SOEs) are experiencing increased pressure to prepare teacher candidates for the effective and innovative integration of technologies. Lack of both ubiquitous on-campus access and effective modeling by SOE faculty are two often-cited barriers to reaching this goal. The Academic Technology Initiative (ATI) at a large…

This exploratory research study examined the impact of using feedback from weekly multiple-choice tests on final exam scores and students' IDEA course ratings. The teacher researcher taught two sections (N=33; N=34) of a graduate-level, semester-long, online course in advanced human growth and development. Each section had identical course…

This article examines the relationship between the mathematical knowledge of 438 K-8 California teachers and the demographics of the schools in which they work. To measure mathematical knowledge, we used a series of multiple-choice problems meant to represent both the content teachers teach and the specialized knowledge of mathematics that…

Computer-based assessments are becoming more commonplace, perhaps as a necessity for faculty to cope with large class sizes. These tests often occur in large computer testing venues in which test security may be compromised. In an attempt to limit the likelihood of cheating in such venues, randomised presentation of items is automatically…

This paper describes the commonly found "knowledge delivery" education format and argues that work outside the academy and more in-depth academic training demand skills and competencies not developed by the "knowledge delivery" model. The knowledge curriculum education is characterized as lecture-type instruction, knowledge delivery and exposure,…

This paper lays out a framework for comparing the qualities and the quantities of information about student competence provided by multiple-choice and free-response test items. After discussing the origins of multiple-choice testing and recent influences for change, the paper outlines an "inference network" approach to test theory, in…

This study examines the predictability of Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) reading item difficulty (equated delta) for the three major reading item types: main idea, inference, and explicit statement items. Each item type is analyzed separately, using 110 GRE reading passages and their associated 244 reading items; selective analyses of 285…

Prediction of the difficulty (equated delta) of a large sample (n=213) of reading comprehension items from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was studied using main idea, inference, and supporting statement items. A related purpose was to examine whether text and text-related variables play a significant role in predicting item…

A framework for categorizing constructed-response items was developed in which items were ordered on a continuum from multiple-choice to presentation/performance according to the degree of constraint placed on the examinee's response. Two investigations were carried out to evaluate the validity of this framework. In the first investigation, 27…

When norm-referenced tests are developed for instructional purposes, to assess the effects of educational programs, or for educational research purposes, it can be very important to conduct item and test analyses. These analyses can evaluate the quality of items and of the test as a whole. Such analyses can also be employed to revise and improve…

More attention is currently being paid to the distractors of a multiple-choice test item (Thissen, Steinberg, and Fitzpatrick, 1989). A systematic relationship exists between the keyed response and distractors in multiple-choice items (Levine and Drasgow, 1983). New scoring methods have been introduced, computer programs developed, and research…