Correlations between the achievement test scores of 2,000 entering freshmen in 1977 and measures of college performance were similar to those reported for tests of the college entrance type. These results provide support for the predictive validity of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Iowa Tests of Educational Development achievement test…

The concurrent validity of standardized achievement tests (the Stanford 9 and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) was examined using data from different school districts nationwide and a latent variable modeling approach. Items in the standardized achievement tests in several content areas were divided into parcels. Parcel scores were used to create…

Addressing concerns of some Alaska educators and parents about the fairness of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), this paper clarifies what can be expected of norm-referenced tests and examines the extent to which the results of the Alaska Statewide Student Assessment may be affected by test bias. Although some test items may ask questions…

Validity and reliability issues in standardized testing of students of limited English proficiency (LEP) were studied. Existing data from four different school sites were obtained for LEP and non-LEP students for three different standardized tests, the Stanford Achievement Tests (Ninth edition), the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and the Language…

This document traces the development of the testing and reporting system used in the Elkhart Community Schools (ECS), Indiana, from 1981 through 1985. Performance objectives were established when the program was initiated. Analyses of standardized test results were provided for teachers, principals, and central administrative staff. All school…

The relationship was investigated between test scores obtained from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), and the grade point average (GPA) at the high school and college level. The data used were unique in providing a longitudinal comparison of college students' performance with the results of…

This document reports on the procedures and results of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) testing program in changing from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), administered to grades 1 through 7 from 1973-79, to the California Achievement Tests (CAT), Form C, administered in Spring 1980 to provide a continuous testing program from the elementary…

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…

This paper outlines how the Austin Independent School District (Texas) tried to deal with the following questions: (1) Should special education students be included in the administration of standardized tests?; (2) Should their scores be included or excluded in the reporting of test results?; and (3) What are the evidences that test scores reflect…

Assessment results were examined for 2,351 students in a large Southwestern school district over a 4-year period. Assessment in the first year consisted of the full battery of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) administered to all third graders in the district. In the following year (grade four), the same students participated in a…

This study attempts to determine the extent to which performance on educational tests is dependent upon language proficiency. Three questions are involved: (1) Will the dictation and the cloze tests prove to be as successful in distinguishing degrees of proficiency among native speakers as among second language learners? (2) How well will scores…

This paper reports an investigation of inferencing in Form Five of the Reading Comprehension component of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. The first step in the investigation consisted of an analysis of the language of the test to determine how the inferencing strategies employed might serve to mask answers. This preliminary analysis suggested that…

Technical problems with norm-referenced achievement testing that can lead to the erroneous evaluation of schools for Chapter 1 Program improvement is discussed, and an alternative testing model is presented. The history of Chapter 1 testing and evaluation policies is briefly reviewed, and problems with the norm-referenced model are explored. Data…

The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were administered to over 600 black and white students in grades six through nine, to determine if the test showed bias against minorities. Outliers were identified from test results. Outliers are items which differ from the central core of test items because they fall outside the range expected from a random…