This report is divided into two parts in order to make the practical outcomes of a content referenced interpretive system for standardized reading tests available for immediate use by teachers and others, while presenting the technical aspects of the studies in a form appropriate for study by researchers in the fields of reading and educational…

Currently available measures of functional literacy for adults are reviewed and evaluated. This report concentrates on tests that are referenced to literary skills important to an adequately functioning adult, such as life skills, coping skills, etc. Because functional literacy has frequently been defined in terms of a grade level equivalent or…

The pros and cons of using behavioral objectives, the merits of norm-referenced versus objective-referenced tests, and the virtues of sampling versus census testing are familiar topics in evaluation literature. Far less common is practical information on how to implement objective-referenced testing, particularly the large-scale testing required…

The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesis formulated by the writer on the basis of the anticipated difficulties inherent in the development of a criterion-referenced reading skills program at the middle school level. Test results obtained from a criterion-referenced measure were to be utilized by twenty-two sixth grade teachers in three…

Standardized achievement tests may not be an accurate diagnostic tool for measuring individual pupil achievement in reading. Criterion-referenced tests, designed to measure specific goal mastery, can provide valuable information that standardized forms cannot. In addition, criterion-referenced tests give teachers the diagnostic tools needed to…

A Bilingual-Bicultural Education Institute was conducted on the Choctaw Reservation to identify specific competencies needed by teachers in a bicultural school setting and to explore the use of criterion-referenced measurement in assessing level of performance of the participants. Of the forty people who participated in the Institute, twenty-one…

This article summarizes the systematic process of instructional development by breaking down the three major stages of instructional analysis, design, and formative evaluation into the steps of needs analysis, learner analysis, task analysis, concept analysis, specification of instructional requirements, and the statement of instructional…

This manual provides a suggested outline for a series of three workshops evolving from the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment's "School Report: A Status Profile" and "Manual for Interpreting School Reports" (both based on the Ten Goals of Quality Education). In addition to the workshops, the following are discussed: (a) Act 299--the…

Findings of educational research offer little indication of a relationship between teacher performance and pupil achievement. A review of reported studies suggest that the difficulty may be methodological. Most investigations are either correlational studies or comparative studies using control group designs. Most correlational research is…

The problems of standardized tests with regard to Mexican American students, particularly "ethnic validity", are reviewed. Inadequate norm group representation, cultural bias, and language bias are purported by the author to be the most common faults of standardized tests. Suggested is the elimination of standardized testing as a principal means…

This is one of the outcomes of the work of the Massachusetts Evaluation Service Center for Occupational Education (ESCOE). This programmed text is intended for use by teachers in occupational education. Some of the theory and background associated with behavioral objectives is included. The main emphasis is on teaching the skill of writing a…

This document defines performance testing as the task of determining how well performance objectives are mastered by learners. Examples are provided for teachers who have to conduct performance testing with industrial standards. Stress is laid on communicating and exchanging materials with colleagues. A reporting form is included which shows how…

The study determined the effects of using criterion referenced reading tests on children enrolled in migrant education programs. The main purpose was establishing educational continuity through interstate cooperation. The study involved migrant students in grades K-6 from Texas (a home base State) programs who arrived in the Indiana (a receiving…

This booklet is designed to provide guidelines for testing in reading and suggestions for using the test results in ways which will most benefit the student. Ten canons are presented which are intended to serve as guidelines for program-related assessment within a framework of instructional decision making. They are concerned primarily with the…

Both criterion-referenced and norm-referenced measures are useful tools to the classroom teacher, but each has its specific uses. The criterion-referenced measure is useful when one is interested in whether an individual possesses particular competencies and when there are no quotas as to how many possess that skill. It is particularly useful in…