This guide is designed to assist States, agencies, and/or facilities who work with youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk (N or D). The information in the guide will benefit those who are (a) interested in implementing pre-posttests, (b) in the process of identifying an appropriate pre-posttest, or (c) ready to evaluate current testing…

The 15 components used for assessment in an introductory psychology course were examined to determine their relative value as predictors of overall performance. Multiple-choice tests were consistently found to be more effective than essay examinations, but arguments are presented for the retention of essays, with suggestions for their improvement.…

A study of the comparability of results of two techniques of testing, the traditional approach and that of giving the students the questions before the examination, revealed little difference in the two approaches' results, and supports the use of "prior notice" to reduce test anxiety. (MSE)

The paper reviews the ways in which the cloze testing procedure measures the reading comprehension skills of students in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The construction and scoring of the test and the interpretation of the scores are discussed and the reliability and validity of the cloze procedure for testing reading skills…

The interrelationships of a variety of student aptitude and achievement measures are examined in a sample of 88 Australian undergraduate students, and the critial role of the data analyst in examining the relationships is discussed. (MSE)

This paper provides an overview of standardized tests and a summary of important psychometric and test construction properties that educators must consider when they make critical evaluations of standardized tests. Sections of the paper concern: (1) basic characteristics of standardized tests; (2) differences between norm-referenced and…

The International English Language Testing System is described, including the test's underlying principles, design, administration, scoring, reliability, and interpretation. Some criticisms of the program are briefly discussed. (MSE)

This survey was developed by the Ohio Sea Grant Education Program in 1979. It is been used every four years as a repeated measure of Ohio students' knowledge and attitudes about the oceans and Great Lakes, charting changes in those attributes as means of determining how well Ohio citizens are being prepared for decisionmaking about those bodies of…

The book is designed to help language teachers write better tests, taking the view that test construction is an exercise in problem-solving, with every teaching situation presenting a different problem that an understanding of the underlying principles of testing can help solve. Examples are given from testing of English as a Second Language…

This compendium is designed to assist vocational educators in selecting appropriate testing instruments to measure the learning outcomes of their programs. It presents by occupational area basic information on more than 150 validated measures and lists more than 1,200 additional entries in the Vocational Education Curriculum Materials (VECM)…

This book contains necessary information to help teachers deal with the assessment concerns of classroom teachers. The major theme is that classroom assessment should help teachers make better educational decisions. Each chapter contains several elements intended to foster mastery of its contents, including a summary of contents, a more succinct…

Designed to assist community college practitioners in understanding and utilizing standardized test results for making instructional, guidance, and administrative decisions, this three-part guidebook examines the uses of test results, the evaluation of standardized tests, and procedures for interpreting test scores. Section I discusses the…

This packet contains a manual and a workbook for developing performance tests in vocational education. The manual gives an in-depth description of how to develop, score, and use performance tests. It includes the following sections: definitions of performance testing, steps in developing a performance test, selecting a performance development…

A proficiency examination developed for placing non-native English-speakers in appropriate expository writing courses is described. The instrument is a multiple-choice examination containing items that test specific expository writing skills through reading skills. The rationale for including such items for placement in expository writing courses,…

This book presents the full array of assessment methods available to the classroom teacher in an interesting and engaging format, broadens the preservice and inservice teacher's understanding of related assessment issues, and places assessment in a meaningful context. The text, which was developed for an introductory course in classroom…