After a brief introduction and discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires, this publication explains how to develop a questionnaire. Each of the five parts of a questionnaire (heading, procedural statements, items, comment space, and procedures for return) are discussed, with concrete examples. Guidelines for pre-test/tryout…

The purpose of this monograph is twofold: (1) to describe the advantages and disadvantages of mail questionnaires as survey research instruments, and (2) to provide guidelines for constructing and utilizing mail questionnaires with a view to maximizing response rates and minimizing response biases. Construction of an effective mail questionnaire…

The Urban Corps Expansion Project (UCEP) enrolls youth aged 18 to 23 who have been unsuccessful in the labor market. They are paid a combination of wages, stipends, and incentives that is at least equal to the minimum wage for at least 25 hours of work and 9 hours of basic education and life skills instruction each week. The program incorporates…

In Rasch terminology, two or more tests are linked when they are joined into a pool related to a single scale. When the same item calibrates at a low level on one test and a high level on a second test, it indicates that the item is low on the first test because the other items on that test are higher, and is high on the second test because the…

These guidelines are provided to offer guidance to district and state policy makers and assessment directors concerning some issues of managing the development, administration, and use of performance assessments in large scale assessment programs. The term "performance assessment" is used for assessments that go beyond paper-and-pencil,…

The premise of this document is that trade instructors and incumbent workers can work together as a writing team to develop test items for vocational education. The development process used by the Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) is described as follows: (1) identify and validate a task list; (2) conduct task analysis;…

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has contracted with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to develop and field test performance assessments in mathematics, language arts, and science. Together with a Wisconsin-developed knowledge and concepts test, the new performance assessments will provide important information about the…

This guide was designed for developers of mastery learning materials for competency based learning situations. Topics include: (1) how mastery learning works and how the mastery learning process can be used in the classroom; (2) the advantages of mastery learning; (3) how to determine if mastery learning is right for student needs; (4) how to…

This paper summarizes the standardized procedures and psychometric standards states must follow in developing performance-based assessment. The National Reporting System (NRS), which serves as the accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy programs, requires that states have their local programs assess educational gain…