This document is a pilot study designed to examine the extent to which currently-used subject-matter standardized tests already test for critical thinking in order to determine if there is a need for the construction of new tests. The study also is intended to be a step toward devising a reliable procedure and scoring key that will enable future…

Five new test batteries are reviewed: California Achievement Tests, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, SRA Achievement Series, and Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. The review covers six basic areas: test administration, norming, test scores, reporting and interpretation, aptitude test considerations, and general…

Comments upon a 1981 article by Alexander, Pallas, and Cook. Discusses whether particular standardized tests measure achievement or ability and the implications of this issue for school effects research. (GC)

The sampling of test items found within the Science portion of selected standardized achievement test batteries is examined. The lack of sensitivity of such items to the curriculum changes often attempted in Earth Science is demonstrated. The following five standardized achievement test batteries commonly administered to pupils in grades 7-9 were…

Five possible interpretations are given of very high correlations between scores on successively administered ability tests in a longitudinal sample of approximately 7,000 public school students tested in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. At each of the four grades, students were given the appropriate level of the Sequential Test of Education Progress…

A simplex process model of the cross-lagged correlation paradigm was applied to 16 tests administered to samples of Black and White males and females in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. Relationships among the measures as well as the use of the model are discussed. (Author/JKS)

Discusses the need for appropriate controls in school effects research based on standardized test outcomes. (GC)

To correct for measurement error in the correlation of student status with achievement gain, the simplex model was used. Results supported the authors' hypothesis that status and gain are correlated. Students who start out as low achievers may need more help over time to maintain the same academic growth as higher achievers. (Author/MV)

Grade equivalent (GE) scores for elementary school achievement tests are defended in response to efforts to ban their use. Equal interval developmental scoring methods for the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills are criticized. (BS)

This study assesses an analytical process which seeks to describe the writing style of a student in terms of the four basic transformational operations: addition, deletion, combining, and reordering. Application of the process to writing skills of low achievers in English is evaluated. All ninth and eleventh grade students in the Falls Church,…

Two major issues are addressed in this commentary on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment: the design of the reading proficiency scale and interpretation of test data; and the dimensionality of this scale and the possibility of supplying data on specific skill dimensions. An examination of NAEP data and the…

The validity of the multiple-choice Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) Writing Test (1957) was tested by the University of Chicago Center for the Cooperative Study of Instruction. Seven criteria developed by the center to score essay assignments were used to determine the relationship between STEP and actual writing behavior. Of the…

To explain the discrepancy between median scores on the 1976 administration of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), ten technical variables typical of achievement tests were considered as explanations. (1) The STEP may measure different…

Designed for junior high and high school students and their parents, this brochure explains the structure, function, and method for interpretation of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. A question and answer format is used to provide information on scope and purposes of the tests, meaning and accuracy…