While curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools for screening decisions in reading, mathematics, and written language have been well examined, tools for use in content areas (e.g., science and social studies) remain in the beginning stages of research. In this study, two alternate forms of a new CBM tool (Statement Verification for Science; SV-S),…

Assessing students' emerging literacy skills is crucial for identifying areas where a child may be falling behind and can lead directly to an increased chance of reading success. The Waterford Assessment of Core Skills (WACS), a computerized adaptive test of early literacy for students in prekindergarten through 2nd grade, addresses this need.…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades 1 and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 2,373 participating grade 1 and 2 students in 22 schools located in 2 public school districts in Florida during fall 2013. Focused…

The heart of effective programming for gifted students lies in the integration of advanced curricula with effective instructional strategies to develop leaning activities that will enhance student learning outcomes. However, empirical evidence of the effectiveness of units based on such curricular and instructional interventions from large-scale…

The technical adequacy of curriculum-based measures in the form of short and simple vocabulary-matching probes to predict students' performance and progress in science at the secondary level was investigated. Participants were 198 seventh-grade students from 10 science classrooms. Curriculum-based measurements (CBM) were 5-min vocabulary-matching…

ACT college test publisher provided scores. On average, non-homeschoolers performed better than homeschoolers, by about two items, out of sixty items, on the ACT mathematics test that was analyzed. This result may be due to the different teaching/learning media used in teaching each of the two groups, to different teacher/student interaction, or…

Because of limitations in simple gain scores, pychometrists have proposed alternate methods for measuring change, two of which are residualized difference and base-free change. This paper provides large sample empirical estimates of the reliability these change measures. It checks theoretical predictions derived from inequalities involving all…

The effects of students taking different levels of the same standardized achievement test were assessed by administering two levels of the same test to each student. The functional level of the test was taken by all students. The second level of testing was randomly assigned at the adjacent higher or lower level of the test. Functional level…

The reliability and predictive validity of the WISC-R was investigated with 46 Mexican-American children. Approximately a year and a half after the administration of the WISC-R, scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were collected. Results indicated that the WISC-R meets minimum requirements of reliability and predictive validity with…

Reliability and validity of "Degrees of Reading Power" test and "Iowa Tests of Basic Skills" reading comprehension and vocabulary tests were compared. Test scores, grades, and assigned reading levels of 191 fifth and sixth graders and 186 sixth and seventh graders in an eastern Iowa school district were used. Reliability and…

The stability of annual normal curve equivalent (NCE) on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills over a period of six years was established in a previous study of status (position within a reference group). This study investigated the relationship between status stability and student achievement level. Third grade students in a suburban school district who…

Results of the Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Concepts subtests of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were analyzed for sex bias. On the whole, little evidence for sex bias was found for the four subtests and three grade levels examined. (Author)

This study compared the reliability and validity of two different measures of reading ability, the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Reading test and the ITBS Vocabulary test. The data consisted of scores of 377 grade 5 and grade 6 students on these tests, along with their assigned reading levels in the…

The authors argue that personnel who select standardized achievement tests have been led to believe that the major achievement test batteries differ very little in terms of the topics they test; but that the content covered by these major tests is different, and that such differences have consequences for instructional content. To test this…

This paper isolates and examines separately three distinct sources of error in essay scores: lack of agreement between raters; inconsistencies in performance within mode of discourse, and inconsistencies in performance between modes of discourse. Essay prompts in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Writing Supplement were designed to assess…