Through a synthesis of test publisher norms and national longitudinal datasets, this study provides new national norms of academic growth in K-12 reading and math that can be used to reinterpret conventional effect sizes in time units. We propose d' a time-indexed effect size metric to estimate how long it would take for an "untreated"…

A panel of expert referees from the Philadelphia school district categorized items from secondary-level standardized mathematics tests according to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) subobjectives for mathematics. The following tests were covered by the study: (1) California Achievement Tests (Levels 19 and 20); (2) Comprehensive…

The purpose of this paper is to further the cause of clarifying construct interpretations of tests, by proposing that non-metric multidimensional scaling may be more useful than factor analysis or other latent structure models for investigating the internal structure of tests. It also suggests that typical problems associated with scaling…

The effects of students taking different levels of the same standardized achievement test were assessed by administering two levels of the same test to each student. The functional level of the test was taken by all students. The second level of testing was randomly assigned at the adjacent higher or lower level of the test. Functional level…

Determination of the fairness of preschool tests for use with children of varying cultural backgrounds is the major objective of this study. The predictive validity of a battery of preschool tests, chosen to represent the core areas of preschool assessment, across race and sex, was evaluated. Validity of the battery was examined over a 12-month…

A taxonomy was developed for classifying instructional materials in fourth grade mathematics, as well as the content of actual classroom instruction and of achievement tests. The taxonomy is defined by the intersection of three factors and results in 468 cells: (1) mode of presentation (for example, use of graphs, tables, story problems)--3…

The authors argue that personnel who select standardized achievement tests have been led to believe that the major achievement test batteries differ very little in terms of the topics they test; but that the content covered by these major tests is different, and that such differences have consequences for instructional content. To test this…

The Follow Through experience is beginning to provide compelling evidence bearing upon important policy issues in compensatory education. This evidence, coming as it does from a naturalistic quasi-experiment, cannot draw its plausibility from the conventional statistical inference appropriate to probabilistically-constructed true experiments. The…

A small follow-up study of three male and five female children, who were at risk of school failure and were enrolled in a model developmental Early Learning Center in the Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools, is described. The focus was on determining whether a standardized achievement measure used to evaluate student academic success/progress…

This study investigated the "customization" of a standardized achievement test to measure the effect on group and individual scores. "Customization" refers to the modification of an existing test to more closely match test specifications of the entity using the test, usually a state or large school district. Results of an…