Data presented in this report are the results of the special assessment of writing mechanics conducted during the 1978-79 school year by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). The purposes of the study were (1) to examine writing abilities of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students enrolled…

This study investigated the practice of weighting a type of test item, such as constructed response, more than other types of items, such as selected response, to compute student scores for a mixed-item type of test. The study used data from statewide writing field tests in grades 3, 5, and 8 and considered two contexts, that in which a single…

In preparation for adding an essay test to the General Educational Development (GED) test, the GED Testing Service undertook a series of studies to establish (1) whether acceptable reading reliabilities were attainable in decentralized holistic scoring sessions often involving no more than a dozen papers; (2) whether essay readers in a variety of…

This report covers the levels of basic skills (verbal and computational skills and elementary algebra skills) among freshmen admitted to New Jersey's public colleges and universities during 1988. These levels of proficiency are estimated from results of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test. Designed both to assist colleges in the…

In 1982, writing was added to the North Carolina Annual Testing Program. Results from the 1990-91 writing evaluations in grades 6 and 8 are reported. Tests were read by two readers, with an agreement rate of over 71%. In 1990-91, sixth-grade students were asked to describe a kitchen so that readers could picture it. Quality was determined on the…

This report provides a profile of state testing programs in 1992-93, as well as a view of classroom testing practices by state, school district, school, or individual teacher. Information, taken from a variety of sources, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress and a General Accounting Office study, indicates that the…