This paper reports on longitudinal study regarding integrity of testing in an online format as used by e-learning platforms. Specifically, this study explains whether online testing, which implies an open book format is compromising integrity of assessment by encouraging cheating among students. Statistical experiment designed for this study…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of answer copying on the ability level estimates of cheater examinees in answer copying pairs. The study generated answer copying pairs for each of 1440 conditions, source ability (12) x cheater ability (12) x amount of copying (10). The average difference between the ability level estimates…

Few arguments about education are as effective at galvanizing public attention and motivating political action as those that compare the performance of students with their counterparts in other countries and that connect academic achievement to economic performance. Because data from international large-scale assessments (ILSA) have a powerful…

A discussion of language testing in the context of a program in English for Special Purposes (ESP) focuses on the lack of "fit" between the two areas and makes some recommendations for improvement. It begins with overviews of recent trends in testing and recent issues in ESP. Overlap is seen in two areas: construct and content validity. It is…

Certain conditions are investigated as to whether they are necessary or sufficient to indicate the fairness of a test, or predictor, in its role in the college admissions procedure. Eight general positions are considered that have claimed to provide sufficient conditions for the unbiasedness of a standardized test or predictor: (1) equal test…

Problems in validating ability tests for handicapped students and research approaches to predictive validity are discussed. Validity for handicapped persons tested under regular conditions; for applicants to special programs, and for tests taken under special administrative conditions are considered. Item analysis and the construction of new…

Screening refers here to the process of making an initial selection of those who need further diagnostic evaluations. A screening process which effectively selects true learning disability (LD) cases from a population reduces the number of incorrectly selected non-LD children who would be needlessly given costly psychoeducational evaluations.…

A review of court cases, involving the use of various standardized tests, highlights the kinds of test validity and the interpretation by the courts of test fairness in setting personnel selection standards. Guidelines established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are shown to support the use of predictive validity in…

Alternate admission systems are reviewed in respect to the minority applicant in an attempt to assess the nature of the bias frequently referred to in connection with standardized testing. The connection between the use of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) as a standardized test and the admission system was explored, concluding that the role…

The American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Program is reviewed in this four-part report in terms of its use at North Harris County College (NHCC). Part I briefly reviews the contents of the four ACT tests: English Usage, Mathematics Usage, Social Studies Reading, and Natural Science Reading. It goes on to discuss the stability, limitations, and…

A framework, or classification scheme, is provided for displaying the spectrum of criterion-referenced tests. This framework illustrates that no single type of test can be identified as the absolute prototype criterion-referenced test. It is shown that over the past 115 years criterion-referenced testing has grown to be a many-faceted concept, its…

Threats to the validity of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System are covered in two parts: an annotated bibliography of reports concerned with technical issues, and a discussion of threats to validity--from the reporting system in general and from each model in particular. Threats common to all three evaluation models are reported:…

The need for better validation of professional licensing and certification examinations is discussed in Part I. Predictive criterion-related validation studies are difficult to develop, time consuming, impractical and expensive. Since training and knowledge variables are not necessarily sufficient to predict job proficiency, it appears logical to…

Two approaches to testing student achievement are discussed: (1) traditional standardized tests; and (2) testing achievement on an instructional unit. Content validity is a major problem with standardized achievement tests. Even though test publishers typically consider a number of curriculum guides and textbooks in producing a test which is…

The scientific concept of intelligence has been heavily influenced by the technology of measurement. The variables which can be measured have been made the operational definition of intelligence. This approach differs from a deductive approach, in which a theory of cognition in general is used to derive the sorts of measurements that must be taken…