The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children's…

Assessing the achievement of students in elementary and secondary schools and the nation's educational progress is fundamental to informing education policy approaches. Congressional interest in this area includes and extends beyond the annual assessments administered by states to comply with the educational accountability requirements of Title…

Advances in maze selection curriculum-based measurement have led to several published tools with technical information for interpretation (e.g., norms, benchmarks, cut-scores, classification accuracy) that have increased their usefulness for universal screening. A range of scoring practices have emerged for evaluating student performance on maze…

Trying to understand PISA is analogous to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. There are many facets of the PISA program, and thus many ways to both applaud and critique this ambitious international program of assessment that has gained enormous importance in the crafting of contemporary educational policy. One of the facets discussed in…

Learning Disabilities (LDs) affect a significant number of students in elementary and secondary school. In order for these students, along with parents and teachers, to understand the nature of their specific difficulties, and have equal opportunity in academic settings, a comprehensive psychological report containing properly informed…

Test developers are responsible to define how test scores should be interpreted and used. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) directed the Secretary of Education to use results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to confirm the proficiency scores from state developed tests. There are two sets of federal definitions…

The purpose of this document is to provide background information that will be useful in interpreting the 2007 results from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by comparing its design, features, framework, and items with those of the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress and another international assessment…

A comparison of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) indicates that the two should be used interchangeably only with caution and understanding of the differences. While there is a moderate to high correlation between the test scores, nevertheless, the two have distinctly different strengths and…

Correlates that describe in part the variation of conditions under which learning is attempted are discussed. Each of these correlates is significantly related to student achievement. Categories into which the correlates are grouped are: Socioeconomic Status Variables (mother's occupation, father's occupation, mother's educational level, father's…

Analyzed average performance changes between tested grades for Hawaiian students who took the Stanford Achievement Test from 1992 to 1996. These local norms for Hawaii provide tools to improve the understanding of the performance of Hawaiian students relative to their mainland counterparts. (SLD)

Rasch model vertical equating procedures were applied to three mathematics computation tests for grades six, seven, and eight. Each level of the test was composed of 45 items in three sets of 15 items, arranged in such a way that tests for adjacent grades had two sets (30 items) in common, and the sixth and eighth grades had 15 items in common. In…

Compared Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 and coefficient alpha (by blocks) reliability estimates for a reading comprehension test. On the average, K-R 20 exceeded coefficient alpha by about .05; that is, K-R 20 exaggerated the internal consistency of the test as would be expected from theory. Implications for counseling interpretations are discussed.…

This study investigates whether item characteristic curves are the same for black students as for white students in the United States. The data analyzed were the answer sheets of 2269 black students and 2285 white students taking the 85-item Verbal Section of the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test. The study of item characteristic curves is…

Argues that the Coleman results make a great deal more sense when the test score results are interpreted as reflecting aptitude instead of achievement. (Author/ROF)

The validity of a comparison of mean test scores for two groups and of a longitudinal comparison of means within each group is assessed. Using LISREL, factor analyses are used to test the hypotheses of similar factor patterns, equal units of measurement, and equal measurement accuracy between groups and across time. (Author/DWH)