This article describes a study, from a Canadian technical institute's upgrading mathematics course, where students played a role in developing the final closed-book exam that they sat. The study involved a process where students developed practice exams and solutions keys, students sat each other's practice exams, students evaluated classmates'…

The implementation of a district-wide testing program requires careful consideration of credibility issues. These issues have been frequently overlooked or treated casually by test developers and users alike. It is well enough to study the reliability and validity issues involved when selecting instrumentation. It is also necessary to identify…

Finds that the time required to attempt all the test items of each question paper in a four-paper sample was inversely proportional to the percentage of students who attempted all the test items of that paper. Extrapolates results to give guidelines for determining the feasibility of newly-developed exam papers. (WRM)

Reports a study of children's responses to a passage-dependent reading comprehension test. (HTH)

Forty-six tests from the Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests, published by the Educational Testing Service, were used in an investigation of the factor structure of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. The overall kit contains 72 fairly short tests that have been developed to serve as markers for 23 factors that appear in the…

As a preliminary step in customizing the Stanford Achievement Test, a study was made to compare the test items at each level with the curriculum objectives of a Florida school district, classifying them as either matching, above or below grade level, or unmatching. Results are shown in table form. (TE)

Although most instructors are solely responsible for the evaluation and grading of students, they rarely receive formalized training in test construction or other forms of evaluation. Evaluating highly motivated students in very small classes is a rather uncomplicated procedure; however, evaluating large classes in which students have a range of…

Analyses of student responses to Introductory Psychology test questions were discussed. The publisher supplied a two thousand item test bank on computer tape. Instructors selected questions for fifteen item tests. The test questions were labeled by the publisher as factual or conceptual. The semester course used a mastery learning format in which…

This report represents the results of an investigation of the appropriateness of criterion-referenced tests (CRTS) for large-scale evaluations. First, the development and validation of CRTS, including the formulation and generation of CRT objectives, items, and score-interpretation schemes and dimensions of item and test quality, were examined to…

In spring 1996, Arizona's Glendale Community College (GCC) undertook an evaluation of an introductory macroeconomics course using the national Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE III). Specifically, the study sought to determine how GCC student outcomes compared to national results on the TUCE III and if the college's macroeconomics…

In spring 1996, Arizona's Glendale Community College (GCC) undertook an evaluation of a microeconomics course using the national Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE III). Specifically, the study sought to determine how GCC student outcomes compared to national results on the TUCE III and if the microeconomics course made a statistical…

Biased tests systematically favor some groups over others as a result of factors not part of what the test is said to measure. Bias is basically a problem of differential validity. Validity can be discussed in terms of either the procedures for establishing it or test use. Both ways clarify bias in any test. For content and construct validity, the…

A procedure for in-depth analysis of a limited number of tests being considered for selection by a school, district, project, or state personnel is described. This procedure involves listing the objectives that it would be desirable to measure determining the relative importance of each of these objectives, having "judges" match test items to…

The Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS) was mandated to meet the requirements of the 1974 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It was hoped that TIERS would lead to a clear report of the effectiveness of Title I programs, based upon a synthesis of nationwide data. It has been extremely difficult to compare…

As part of the development of a collection of criterion-referenced test reviews, a survey was conducted to determine the information needs of educators who select tests. Three aspects of test selection were emphasized: (1) factors affecting choices among available tests; (2) consumers' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about criterion referenced…