An essential concern in the application of any equating procedure is determining whether tests can be considered equated after the tests have been placed onto a common scale. This article clarifies one equating criterion, the first-order equity property of equating, and develops a new method for evaluating equating that is linked to this…

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of scale drift on a test that employs cut scores. It was essential to examine scale drift for this testing program because new forms in this testing program are often put on scale through a series of intermediate equatings (known as equating chains). This process may cause equating error to…

Problems of scale typically arise when comparing test score trends, gaps, and gap trends across different tests. To overcome some of these difficulties, we can express the difference between the observed test performance of two groups with graphs or statistics that are metric-free (i.e., invariant under positive monotonic transformations of the…

Many testing programs include a section of optional questions in addition to mandatory parts of a test. These optional parts of a test are not often truly parallel to one another, and groups of examinees selecting each optional test section are not equivalent to one another. This paper provides a general method based on missing-data methods for…

This fold-out chart provides information about educational achievement in New Mexico for 1988-89. Demographic and educational indicators are summarized for the 88 school districts with over 292,450 students in 633 public schools in the state. The New Mexico Assessment System measures student achievement in language arts, social studies, science,…

Item parameter estimates derived through item response theory methods have been considered relatively robust to changes in item position and context, but the anomaly in reading scores from the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) illustrates problems with common population equating procedures when there are test form changes.…

This report describes the results of Connecticut's second statewide assessment of mathematical knowledge, skills and attitudes. The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress annually tests a sample of Connecticut students in grades 4, 8, and 11 in one or more subject areas. Students at each grade level were randomly selected to participate in…

Information is provided about the Delaware Educational Assessment Program and the performance of Delaware public school students as measured by a nationally-normed standardized achievement test. The Stanford Achievement Test, Eighth Edition was administered statewide, allowing comparisons with national performance and with the performance of…

Information is provided for educators and the general public about the performance of students on the standardized tests administered in 1990 as part of the South Carolina Norm-Referenced Testing (SCNRT) Program. The first section of this report provides background information necessary for interpretation of the results. The second section reports…

This report presents Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) student performance results for the 1989-90 school year. Data are aggregated and reported for the state as a whole, for various student and district demographic groupings, for school districts, and for individual campuses. Section I provides an executive summary of…

The Nevada Proficiency Examination Program was established by legislative mandate in 1977. It consists of two major assessment efforts: administration of a nationally normed test to grades 3, 6, and 9; and the testing of all 11th graders in reading, writing, and mathematics. Students must pass all three examinations as a precondition for receiving…

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…

April 1986 marked the sixth year of the statewide testing program in reading, language, and mathematics mandated by the Arizona legislature. For 1986, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted three tests to fulfill the legislative mandate: the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (grades 1 through 8); the Stanford Achievement Test (grade 9); and the…

Statewide results of South Carolina's Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) are provided in terms of the percentages of students meeting statewide performance standards in reading, mathematics, writing, and science. BSAP tests were administered statewide on April 23-27, 1990, in grades 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. The BSAP Exit Examination was administered…

April 1990 marked the tenth year of the effort mandated by the Arizona State Legislature to assess student performance through nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement testing in reading, grammar, and mathematics for students in grades 1 through 12. This was the sixth year the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were administered to students in…