Describes a program to certify state and district judges of high school debate tournaments. Covers constructing the written test, evaluating the ballot test, implementing certification, and assessing the program. (PD)

Reviews various issues related to developing a single system of examining at 16+ to replace the General Certificate of Education and the Certificate of Secondary Education, including current assessment techniques and activities of groups involved in developing this common examination system. (SK)

Reviews a dozen basic questions about passing scores on state-mandated competency testing programs for students, teachers, administrators, and other education personnel. Condemns the "cardiac" approach (or traditonal 80 percent standard) in favor of procedures that systematically incorporate judgment with a variety of performance data.…

Describes the five-year effort of the Allentown, Pennsylvania School District to develop districtwide final examinations to test the mastery of course objective in its secondary schools. (FL)

This document describes standardized test performance of pupils in secondary schools of the Houston Independent School District (HISD). Tests reported include the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). In addition to achievement scores, this report contains information about the students,…

Details the development of item pools, or collections of test exercises, including specifying the domain of content; collecting/writing items; pilot testing; and publishing. Implications of item pools for guidance workers are presented. (BP)

Examination programs in Hong Kong are decribed. Examinations include (1) the Hong Kong Higher Level Examination, taken at the end of Sixth Form in Chinese middle schools; (2) the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, taken at the end of the Sixth Form in Anglo-Chinese schools; and (3) the Use of English Examination. (LMO)

Describes how the Allentown, Pennsylvania, public school district uses district-wide final examinations (along with some class-specific test items designed by teachers) to assess secondary school programs, provide "feedback" to teachers, and evaluate student mastery of learning objectives. (MCG)

Reports on the 1994 English Advanced Placement Reading, an event which brought together 750 readers to provide accurate, efficient, and comfortable scoring of over 173,000 exams. (SR)

The Jordanian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination is an achievement test constructed, administered, scored, and reported by the ministry of Education. The examination is discussed in terms of history, philosophy, objectives, structure and operation, use of data, predictive validity, and side effects. (LMO)

The results of a school district's move to proficiency testing in mathematics are described and discussed. (MK)

The Educational Testing Service Composition Scale was derived from a factor analysis of grades on 300 college freshman compositions, followed by further ratings using the scales with high school papers. This summary provides brief descriptions of the characteristics of student writing rated high, middle, and low on the eight subscales: ideas;…

The use of reporting final examinations in the Netherlands is described. Each October a public report is published by Cito, supplying information about the achieved level of education and describing observed psychometric qualities of the measurement instrument. General information needs are provided by the National Bureau of Statistics. (LMO)

Examines the new state-mandated high school graduation tests emerging in response to perceived declines in educational standards. Indicates general consequences for implementing these tests, including public perceptions based on a "box score" mentality. As competency measures, the tests have had little impact on pupils, teachers,…

Scotland, like many countries, has a system of externally-administered syllabus-based examinations, set at two points: the end of compulsory schooling, which serves as a basis for entry to junior college "non-advanced further education" (mainly vocationally oriented); and at the end of grade 12, which serves as a basis for admission to…