Papay (2011) noticed that teacher value-added measures (VAMs) from a statistical model using the most common pre/post testing timeframe--current-year spring relative to previous spring (SS)--are essentially unrelated to those same teachers' VAMs when instead using next-fall relative to current-fall (FF). This is concerning since this choice--made…

Best practice in gifted and talented identification procedures involves making decisions on the basis of multiple measures. However, very little research has investigated the impact of different methods of combining multiple measures. This article examines the consequences of the conjunctive ("and"), disjunctive/complementary…

Maintaining score stability is crucial for an ongoing testing program that administers several tests per year over many years. One way to stall the drift of the score scale is to use an equating design with multiple links. In this study, we use the operational and experimental SAT® data collected from 44 administrations to investigate the effect…

The first large-scale, nationwide academic achievement testing program using Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford) for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the United States started in 1969. Over the past three decades, the Stanford has served as a benchmark in the field of deaf education for assessing student academic achievement. However, the…

In this article we address the issue of consistency in standard setting in the context of an augmented state testing program. Information gained from the external NRT scores is used to help make an informed decision on the determination of cut scores on the state test. The consistency of cut scores on the CRT across grades is maintained by forcing…

Presents conclusions of an independent measurement expert that the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was constructed according to acceptable professional standards and tests curricular material considered by the Texas Board of Education important for graduates to have mastered. Also supports the validity and reliability of the TAAS and…

Calculated year-1 to year-2 stability of assessment data from 21 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The median stability coefficient was 0.78 in mathematics and reading, and lower in writing. A stability coefficient of 0.80 is recommended as the standard for large-scale assessments of student performance. (SLD)

Studied longitudinal changes in performance at both the student and school district level in major content areas of a widely used norm-referenced grade-level testing program. Used data from grades 3 to 4 and from 7 to 8 of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (in Iowa). Reports descriptive statistics and empirical norms and reliability estimates for…

A procedure is described for estimating the reliability and conditional standard errors of measurement of scale scores incorporating the discrete transformation of raw scores to scale scores. The method is illustrated using a strong true score model, and practical applications are described. (SLD)

Explores issues involved in using assessments to define standards and encourage efforts to meet them and compares the European examination system with the American testing system. Also considered are issues of the definition of learning domains in ways that do not encourage narrowly focused training on specific assessment items. (SLD)

Summarizes the recent history of education reform and statewide testing in Texas. Suggest that analyses comparing Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) reading, writing, and mathematics scores with one another and relevant high school grades raise doubts about the reliability and validity of TAAS scores. Discusses these problems. (SLD)

This study provides empirical evidence about the sampling variability and generalizability (reliability) of a statewide performance assessment for grade six. Results for 600 students at individual and school levels indicate that task-sampling variability was the major source of measurement error. Rater-sampling variability was negligible. (SLD)

Analyses of 10 raters' reasoning during think-aloud interviews provided evidence to support a model of the fundamental processes involved in rating standards-based, nonprescriptive portfolios. This process model provides a framework within which to conceptualize sound-rater reasoning and to identify reasoning that distorts the meaning of scores.…

Studied the amount of measurement error in a state's performance-based writing task as it relates to high-stakes decision reproducibility. Using 175 eighth-grade writing samples, the study finds moderate correlations between the two raters' scores, with significant differences for the rates for the handwritten, but not the typed, essays.(SLD)