The Pirie-Kieren Model (PKM) was a paradigm shift in theories of learning by presenting a coherent, consistent theory compatible with complexity theory. PKM recognized that learning is non-linear, recursive, iterative, and emergent. PKM was one of the first theories to depart from the linear models of learning that dominated theories of learning…

This article seeks to explain why, even in norm referenced assessment environments, students and other stakeholders should not be concerned that students who help peers learn are negatively impacting their own assessments. The article opens with a review of assessment options: norm referenced, criterion referenced and ipsative. Next, Social…

This paper attempts to address the possibility of real change after a hundred years of exam-based assessments that produce a single mark or grade as feedback on students' progress and abilities. It uses visual feedback and analysis of graduate attribute assessment to foreground the diversity of aspects of a student's performance across subject…

The purpose of this article is to bring attention to the 10 most pressing questions relevant to musculoskeletal physical fitness testing in children and adolescents. The goal is to stimulate research to answer these questions. The most pressing needs include establishing definitive links between valid, reliable, and feasible field test measures of…

The current study will examine possible contextual effects relative to differences in reading comprehension performance in the state of Florida. While the Reading First (RF) Impact study examined such difference using a regression discontinuity design, the authors are primarily interested in other analytic methods that might answer different…

Value-added models help to evaluate the knowledge that school districts, schools, and teachers add to student learning as students progress through school. In this article, the well-known Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) is examined. The author presents a practical investigation of the methodological issues associated with the…

Problems inherent in setting standards/passing scores for criterion-referenced tests are discussed; and traditional methods of setting standards are reviewed. Three acceptable methods based on judgments of questions are discussed; their authors include, respectively: (1) W. H. Angoff (1971); (2) R. L. Ebel (1972); and (3) L. Nedelsky (1954). (SLD)

The increasing relation between domain-referenced measurement and its implications in instruction are discussed with the argument that construction methods available do not guarantee content validity which needs more attention to be effective. Two domain-referenced testing procedures illustrate construction and validity problems. (CM)

The study examined psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Early Evaluation and Programming System (CEEPS), a criterion-referenced instrument designed for handicapped children birth to 3 years old. The instrument was intended to provide specific information to develop program objectives across a range of developmental areas and to assess…

To help achieve national consistency of assessment and reporting in the Australian Vocational Education and Training sector, there is a need to develop a set of national principles for graded performance assessment. This paper challenges a number of prevailing principles from both a theoretical and assessment perspective, namely that grades must…

The development, formative evaluation, and potential uses of the "Sixteen Quality Indicators" (16 QI) rating scale are described. The scale was developed as a systematic way to rate the quality of Skill Qualifications Tests (SQTs) in the United States Army. An SQT measures a soldier's knowledge of a military occupational specialty. It is…

Describes a four-tier model for designing and developing practice and assessment in computer-based training. Topics include teaching versus assessing; levels of knowledge; taxonomy levels and intended learning outcomes; and time and cost constraints that result in criterion-referenced tests being most widely used. (Author/LRW)

Research evidence relating to the utility of the RMC evaluation models of compensatory education employing non-normed tests is examined. The history and evolution of five early models into the current norm-referenced model utilizing a non-normed test (Model A2), non-normed versions of a comparison model (Model B2), and the regression model (Model…

Two ESEA Title I evaluation models developed by the Resource Management Corporation (RMC), were field tested simultaneously with 560 Title I reading students, grades 2-8. Measuring instruments for models 1 and 2 were, respectively, the California Achievement Test (reading vocabulary section), a norm-referenced test; and the Tarmac Reading…

A new standard setting approach is introduced, called the cognitive components approach. Like the Angoff method, the cognitive components method generates minimum pass levels (MPLs) for each item. In both approaches, the item MPLs are summed for each judge, then averaged across judges to yield the standard. In the cognitive components approach,…