Given worldwide prevalence of low-stakes testing for monitoring educational quality and students' progress through school (e.g., Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Program for International Student Assessment), interpretability of resulting test scores is of global concern. The nonconsequential nature of low-stakes tests…

Reviews the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), a test designed to measure college students' learning and study strategies through self report. Advises that the test is still in experimental form, with a questionable norm group, and thus must be used with caution, especially in interpreting percentile ranks. (SKC)

Three case studies are presented that describe variations used to obtain student perceptions of examinations and examination questions. Student perceptions can provide feedback about the quality of the examination. Results are presented and discussed and some examples of test evaluation questions are given. (Author/MLW)

Three papers are included in this document. The first, "An Introduction to the Problem of Test User Qualifications," by Kevin L. Moreland, is a short history of the American Psychological Association (APA)/American Educational Research Association (AERA)/National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) Working Group on Test User…

The Science Teacher Inventory of Need (STIN) was developed specifically to assess the perceived needs of science teachers in developing nations. The purpose of this reported study was to apply factor analysis to the perceived needs data collected from a sample of Malaysian secondary science teachers in order to clarify further the factorial…

Cross-referenced to instructional objectives defined in a previous publication, (Guidelines to Mathematics, K-6), the Wisconsin Mathematics Test can be used to measure achievement gains over a given year, or to detect student strengths and weaknesses, by correlating missed items with the objectives. It is also possible to compare results on a…

Two tests of oral English ability are described and presented: (1) the Oral Placement Test, and (2) the Oral Production Test, which contains three forms for three levels. The tests may be used for placement or diagnosis. Each student is tested individually; the placement test takes five minutes, and each achievement test takes less than ten…

The Melbourne Music Evaluation Kit (MEK) was designed to aid teachers of first-year secondary-school music classes to select appropriate curriculum materials related to the music backgrounds of class members, as indicated by scores on the kit. Tests included in the kit are criterion- referenced and are used as a diagnostic tool to measure…

Variability in diagnostic procedures and a lack of valid and reliable measures led to the development of a comprehensive battery, which incorporated an operational definition of learning disabilities. The battery consisted of forms for observing these functions: intelligence, academic achievement, gross and fine motor control, visual perception,…

Alverno College (Wisconsin) defines a curriculum in which all students demonstrate certain major abilities within their disciplines or professional areas, and it assesses those abilities as its primary graduation requirements. The college-wide assessment center has enabled assessment of complex abilities not easily tested through a single course.…

To permit local districts to exercise their option to use standardized tests for state-mandated evaluations, a test rating form was developed. A key concern was the percentage of state approved reading and mathematics skills measured by a test, rather than the test's value for other uses. Other content concerns were readability and cultural and…

This technical report documents the procedures followed in developing student and teacher surveys to gather information about the accommodations students are accustomed to receiving and those that might be beneficial on a mathematics test delivered on the computer. It provides documentation of the technical adequacy of the survey instruments, as…