The foundation for the word attack element of the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development consists of the Outline of Reading Skills and related behavioral objectives. The list of word attack skills was originally drawn from a prepared curriculum guide of a public school system and subsequently refined. The skills are the ones commonly…

Confusion has arisen because tests are described as criterion-referenced or norm-referenced. Generally, these terms should apply to scores and not to tests since either type of score may be obtained for any test. Various terms such as absolute scores, fixed-standard scores and mastery-test scores may be more appropriate substitutes for…

A vocabulary list of 50 words based on children's spoken language was divided into six groups. For each group specific materials incorporating different modality presentations (pictures, tapes, transparencies, and word cards providing tactile emphasis) were developed. The modality preferences of 128 first graders were identified by The New York…

This report provides additional detail on the problems of test and measurement and cost analysis associated with performance contracting programs. The guide, addressed to school board members, administrators, and other educational decisionmakers who may be contemplating a performance contracting program, delineates the questions, issues, and…

The second phase of a project concerned with how background and ability measures relate to job performance, this report discusses the occupation of Cartographic Technician (GS-1371). A description of the sample studied, the selection of measuring instruments, the predictor battery, criterion measures, and personal history questionnaires are…

The paper approaches criterion-referencing as a problem of validating tests for particular inferences about human behavior. Some definitions of the term "criterion-referenced" are reviewed, and the position is taken that direct inferences about what a test-taker can or cannot do--criterion-referenced inferences, that is--need not be restricted to…

This report includes a description of the early history of the project, a description of the two components involved in the project, and pertinent questions about the project which are answered. (MS)

The feasibility of using criterion referenced tests (CRTs) in a large-scale evaluation conducted in an effectiveness evaluation context was investigated. The study began by examining the theory that structures the development and validation of CRTs to discover whether, on theoretical grounds alone, CRTs are suitable or not suitable for large-scale…

Part I of this report attempts to describe the system that was developed for local educational agencies by the Delaware State Department of Public Instruction to support classroom and curricular improvement in mathematics through the administration of an objective-referenced test in mathematics to grade four students. This system includes the…

Summarizing work which is part of an Army research program on Methodological Issues in the Construction of Criterion Referenced Tests, the focus of this paper is on a Bayesian model, which gives the probability of correctly classifying an examiner as a master or as a nonmaster while taking into consideration the test length and the mastery cut-off…

After examining some of the pros and cons of traditional grading, the demands colleges make on grading practices, and the responses of people interested in grading, a number of examples of operating alternative systems are given. The alternatives include a dual (pass/withdraw grading in some courses, traditional grading in others) system, a…

A model developed in Australia, designed to increase the reliability and validity of traditional final year examinations for medical students, aims to provide a profile of student performance over a range of defined competence categories. The level of competence is that expected of an intern. (Author/LBH)

A report on a consortium which is pooling the efforts of 13 states to produce and field-test catalogs of performance objectives, criterion referenced measures, and performance guides for vocational learners. Acknowledgment is made to the training services, materials, and processes made available by the military. (Editor/HD)

Examines the Decoding Skills Test (DST), a criterion referenced, diagnostic instrument designed to identify deficiencies in word decoding. (JC)

This paper describes conventions in the scoring of classroom tests and of the achievement batteries used in school districts', testing programs in the U.S. The scales used for the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the American College Testing Program are described. Some new, criterion-referenced scales developed for state and national assessments are…