This manual was written to provide technical information regarding the 2002 Series GED (General Educational Development) Tests. Throughout this manual, documentation is provided regarding the development of the GED Tests, data collection activities, as well as reliability and validity evidence. The purpose of this manual is to provide evidence…

The Registered Holistic Scoring Method, which has been used for one year to score the ninth grade writing test of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test, is described. Registered Holistic Scoring was developed from the previous holistic approach in order to provide more reliable scoring guidelines year after year. Two trained evaluators…

A "modified essay examination" was used to help teach and to assess clinical problem-solving skills with 11 first trimester doctoral students. This examination provided a paper-and-pencil simulation of problems encountered in case management. Students were required to generate hypotheses, formulate questions, discuss issues, and make…

Six university English departments collaborated in this examination of the differences between multiple-choice and essay tests in evaluating writing skills. The study also investigated ways the two tools can complement one another, ways to improve cost effectiveness of essay testing, and ways to integrate assessment and the educational process.…

In preparation for a study of essay questions and other forms of open-ended exercises in the California Golden State Examination for biology, the functioning of open-ended biology items in another examination was explored. The Golden State Examination program offers honors credit to students who wish to qualify for admission to programs in…

A follow-up study of two instruments for evaluating college writing was conducted. The experimental scale (E Scale) was developed in 1976 and revised for this study. The control scale (C Scale) was described in the literature in 1977. Ten English majors graded ten essays from diagnostic entrance exams. Both the E Scale and the C Scale were used,…

The relationship among writing assessment strategies which may be applicable to competency based testing was examined in a study involving 128 high school students in six English classes in grades 11 and 12. Each student wrote two essays of at least 200 words on topics designed to test expository, or explanatory writing, and completed an objective…

The effectiveness of the "read-comp" technique in assessing writing ability and the usefulness of a rubric and procedure devised for scoring read-comp samples and essays were evaluated. Subjects were 100 freshman students enrolled in general and remedial English classes in a 6-week summer session at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.…

Teaching staff represent a powerful influence on program development. Therefore it is essential that their opinions be ascertained and analyzed in a school evaluation. The Teacher Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess teacher opinion toward many facets of the school; (2) to provide teacher recommendations for…

The Parent Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess parents' attitudes toward their children's school and its programs; (2) to provide an opportunity for parents to make specific recommendations for improvement; and (3) to provide decision-making data relative to program development, policy formation, administrative…

An important part of any school's self-evaluation is student input or feedback. This inventory was developed in order to accomplish two goals: assessing student attitudes toward many facets of the school, and providing an opportunity for students to make recommendations for improvement. Thirty-four multiple choice items collect information on…

About 9,000 students in grades 4, 8, and 12 participated in three writing excersises: (1) directed--short passage in response to a specific request; (2) global--extended narrative or exposition on a broad topic; and (3) proofreading and editing. The exercises reflected writing tasks required of the average adult as a citizen worker or creative…