In 2005 the Hungarian school-leaving examination system underwent a significant transformation. In case of history the aim was to give a greater role to the development of students' knowledge acquisition and source analysis skills by more focusing on students' work with historical sources in classes. However, it was clear that the achievement of…

With support from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), a community of biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) scientist-educators has developed and administered an assessment instrument designed to evaluate student competence across four core concept and skill areas fundamental to BMB. The four areas encompass…

The consequences associated with the uses and interpretations of scores for many credentialing testing programs have important implications for a range of stakeholders. Within licensure settings specifically, results from examination programs are often one of the final steps in the process of assessing whether individuals will be allowed to enter…

The influence of anchor length on the accuracy of test equating was studied using Tucker's linear method and two Item-Response-Theory (IRT) based methods, focusing on whether equating accuracy improved with more anchor items, whether the anchor effect depended on the equating method used, and the adequacy of the inclusion of the guessing parameter…

This report summarizes findings on 26 National Teacher Examination specialty area tests provided by faculty reviewers from five Oregon institutions of higher education. Reviewers were asked to judge tests on the basis of: (1) whether students at the reviewer's institution would have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge measured in test items;…

Results from the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) indicate that English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Literacy Development (ELD) students have comparatively low success and high deferral rates. This study examined the 2002 and 2003 OSSLT test performances of ESL/ELD and non-ESL/ELD students in order to identify and…

Characteristics that distinguish criterion-referenced tests from their norm-referenced counterparts are discussed, including: the purposes that they are designed to serve; the characteristics of the types of items that they contain; and the manner in which they are developed. More specifically, the distinguishing characteristics include: reference…

The effects of feedback about the ratings of other judges on subsequent ratings using the Nedelsky method and the ability of judges to retain or eliminate options in a manner consistent with the judgments of minimally competent examinees were studied using data from a basic algebra examination administered to 227 college students in 1987. The…

The merits and hazards of minimum competency testing for the individual student or for student groups are discussed. Types of groups which lend themselves to group application and some important factors in determining the parameters of a group are discussed. Ten critical issues related to minimum competency testing are identified: (1) scope of…

In order to compose equivalent certification tests in the basic skills in reading, mathematics calculations and applications, and writing for high school graduation requirements, the San Jose Unified School District, California, used the Rasch computer program to arrive at the scaled difficulty level of test items. The procedure for achieving a…

This paper compares descriptive information based on analyses of the pilot and live administrations of the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE). The AHSGE, a product of decisions made in 1977 and 1984 by the Alabama State Board of Education, is composed of subject tests in reading, mathematics, and language. The pass score for each…

Results of the second administration of the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills (MBS) Tests in reading and mathematics are reported for students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 11. The reading tests are organized according to clusters of items: (1) word recognition; (2) comprehension; and (3) study skills. The mathematics tests are also organized into…

After a brief review of recent research concerning teacher testing, this paper presents concrete examples of multiple-choice test items that assess more than teachers' minimal, basic knowledge. Specifically, multiple-choice test items used for the assessment of pedagogical content knowledge (C-P items) are contrasted with items used for the…