The Maryland State Department of Education issued a request for proposals to develop a score reporting system for the Maryland Functional Testing Program. RMC Research Corporation conducted a literature review of extant literature and developed a national survey of non-norm-referenced test score reporting practices. This comprehensive analysis of…

Georgia's competency testing program has gained national recognition and has served as a model for other states planning such programs. The focus of this paper is on the Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in Administration and Supervision developed to conform to stringent legal and job-relatedness requirements. The test is required of educators…

Kansas law requires setting passing scores for the reading and mathematics competency test for 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 11th grade students, administered annually since April of 1980. New objective-referenced tests are prepared each year. Both judgmental (Angoff, Ebel, and Nedelsky) methods and empirical (contrasting groups and borderline) methods…

In 1984 an evaluation team examined the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP), a statewide competency-based, criterion-referenced testing program that was instituted to limit awarding of high school diplomas to those students who had earned scores above cut scores on a series of achievement tests. This article examines the procedures the…

The problem of setting standards has always been an issue in the educational community. This paper offers an outline of one state's procedure for setting a passing score for a competency-based test in mathematics. The Maryland Functional Mathematics Test (MFMT) becomes a graduation prerequisite for the graduating class of 1987. The procedures used…

Standards, passing scores, or cut scores have been seen as an element of criterion-referenced tests since their introduction. This paper discusses at least two issues surrounding the establishment of cut scores which appear to need clarification: (1) the theoretical definition of a cut score; and (2) decisions which must be made in selecting a…

Minimum competency cut-off scores on a statistics exam were estimated under four conditions: the Angoff judging method with item data (n=20), and without data available (n=19); and the Modified Angoff method with (n=19), and without (n=19) item data available to judges. The Angoff method required free response percentage estimates (0-100) percent,…

This paper presents the dual approach to item bias detection employed in the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP). Using instructional objectives mandated by the Maryland State Board of Education, the MFTP develops two levels of the Maryland Functional Reading Test (MFRT) and the Maryland Functional Mathematics Tests (MFMT). These…

This study explores the use of the modified caution index (MCI) for identifying judges whose patterns of recommendations suggest that their judgments might be based on incomplete information, flawed reasoning, or inattention to their standard-setting tasks. It also examines the effect on test standards and passing rates when the test standards of…

The Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST), was developed at Educational Testing Service at the request of the National Teachers Examination Policy Council. The battery of three tests is designed to provide objective, standardized measures of basic proficiency in reading, mathematics, and writing. The steps in the test development process of this…

Students failing to master minimum competency tests are categorized as dropouts in this description of the results of and remediation efforts for the statewide Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) Testing Program. TEAMS assesses minimum competency in basic skills at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11-12 exit level. The first…

A variety of adults were surveyed on alternative strategies for the State of Louisiana's minimum competency testing program. Both individual and group interviews were conducted with teachers, local school district supervisors and program administrators, parents, and state board of education members. Participants discussed what a state testing…

The relationship between item omission and item position on criterion-referenced tests in the Texas state assessment program is examined. Item statistics from the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) and Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) mathematics and reading tests from 1983 through 1985 are examined for three ethnic…