The 1973 statewide (Maryland) educational accountability plan, for which this report was compiled, called for the development and establishment of statewide and local goals in reading, writing, and mathematics; a comprehensive and uniform statewide testing program; procedures for collecting data on student, home, community, and school…

This language arts curriculum guide for grades 10-12 begins with a statement of the language arts goals of knowledge, skills, and values to be addressed in each section. The instructional components are sequenced according to objectives, and most of them are keyed to present resources in the Shawnee Mission (Kansas) school district. The following…

This paper describes the methods used for revising the Cincinnati Mathematics Inventories, a battery of criterion-referenced tests of basic skills used in the Cincinnati Title III program and other city-wide special programs. Each of these tests is designed to cover a half-year of work; items are included to sample skills listed in the Catalog of…

This report describes the third study in a program of research dealing with the relationships between the characteristics of human tasks and the abilities required for task performance. The goal of the program is to generate principles which can be used to identify ability requirements from knowledge of the characteristics of a task and of…

An item generation procedure is described which was utilized in the development of Computer Managed Review and Examination courses for the education of nurses in remote areas. The major emphases are the processes of domain definition, item writing, and item edition. Specific discussion is presented concerning methods of item construction to assess…

A computer simulation of Bayes' Theorem was conducted in order to determine the probability that an examinee was a master conditional upon his test score. The inputs were: number of mastery states assumed, test length, prior expectation of masters in the examinee population, and conditional probability of a master getting a randomly selected test…

The present study was designed to examine whether or not traditional procedures concerning item selection and reliability are both applicable and appropriate for criterion-referenced (CR) tests. It was also designed to examine traditional procedures and those designed especially for CR testing in relation to test variance and item homogeneity.…

A method for establishing minimal acceptable performance levels for criterion referenced multiple choice examinations is described and two procedures for evaluating its validity are discussed. The method involves assigning a priori item difficulties based on the similarity between the distractor and the correct response. In estimating the validity…

Test management systems are suggested for individualizing the teaching of reading in the elementary classroom. Test management systems start with a list of objectives or specific goals which cover all or some major areas of the learning to read process. They then develop a large number of criterion referenced tests which match the skill areas at…

Criterion-referenced systems are founded on the belief that instruction should be based on the needs of individual pupils. If pupils' needs are to guide instruction, the system must identify the skills pupils need to learn and the sequence for their introduction. Additionally, there must be a way to identify the skills a pupil needs and those he…

Symposium papers presented at an Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education (Chicago, 1972), all of which concern banks of test items for use in constructing criterion referenced tests, comprise this document. The first paper, "Locally Produced Item Banks" by Thomas J. Slocum, presents information on the…

It is posited that primary desired functions of an educational system are relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency, and that the objective of educational system design is state-of-the-art optimization of these functions. Based on this view, gross structures of the educational system and of associated educational architectural models addressing…

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the measurement of child outcomes is the major stumbling block in estimating the extent to which equality of opportunity exists for children in our nation's schools. This paper has three parts. The introduction discusses the concept of equal educational opportunity, as defined and then redefined over the…

The usefulness of item sampling with unobtrusive measures and observational data is demonstrated. Particular emphasis is given to the question: Is item sampling appropriate for estimating the differences between means as well as the means themselves? A descriptive analysis is made of one aspect of a junior high school curriculum. Twenty four…

The 1972-73 accountability study of Duval County (Jacksonville, Florida) programs for trainable mentally handicapped (TMH) children and youth, funded under Title VI-B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, focused on the development and refinement of evaluation materials and field testing of the materials developed. Twelve teachers…