This is the third module in a four-module training package for use in inservice seminars or workshops on performance appraisal and employee development. Module 3 focuses on the actual performance review process. The first part outlines requirements for constructing objective, workable employee development plans, in particular factors resulting in…

Information provided by typical and improved conventional classroom achievement tests was compared with information provided by an adaptive test covering the same subject matter. Both tests were administered to over 700 college students in a general biology course. Using the same scoring method, adaptive testing was found to yield substantially…

The National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the High School Class of 1972 is a large-scale long-term survey effort supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. NLS is designed to provide statistics on a national sample…

This Statistics in Brief analyzes parents' reports of school practices to provide information to families, using data from the 2003 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and the 1996 Parent and Family Involvement in Education and Civic Involvement Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program. Parent reports of school…

The "Learning Trail" is an innovative application of peer-mediated instruction designed to enhance student learning in large practical classes. The strategy specifically seeks to improve participants' attention to details of protocol that are often difficult to observe during teacher-centered demonstrations to large groups. Students…

A Monte Carlo study was conducted to compare the statistical bias and standard errors of non-equivalent-groups linear test equating in small samples of examinees. One thousand samples of each size (15, 25, 50, and 100) were drawn with replacement from each of five archival data files from elementary school and secondary school teacher subject area…

An argument based on the content fit among a college course, the American College Testing Program (ACT) Assessment tests, and students' high school course work is described to justify use of ACT scores and self-reported high school grades for placement of college freshmen in undergraduate remedial education. A utility-based approach to quantifying…

The reliability, content validity, and construct validity were compared for two test formats in a public examination used to assess a secondary school geography course. The 11-item geography portion of the Intermediate Certificate Examination (essay examination) was administered in June 1987 to 400 secondary school students in Ireland who also…

This study explores the use of the modified caution index (MCI) for identifying judges whose patterns of recommendations suggest that their judgments might be based on incomplete information, flawed reasoning, or inattention to their standard-setting tasks. It also examines the effect on test standards and passing rates when the test standards of…

This report documents the major technical aspects of the sample selection and implementation of the 1982 High School and Beyond First Follow Up, the first in a series of planned resurveys of the students and schools in the 1980 High School and Beyond Base Year Survey. The First Follow-Up included subsamples of nearly 30,000 sophomore cohort and…

A study explored which nonexperimental comparison group methods provide the most accurate estimates of the impacts of mandatory welfare-to-work programs and whether the best methods work well enough to substitute for random assignment experiments. Findings were compared for nonexperimental comparison groups and statistical adjustment procedures…

An August 1997 report from the Office of the State Auditor, this document contains the results of an enrollment audit of Texas' Public Community and Technical Colleges. It recommends that no adjustments be made to the Public Community and Technical Colleges' 1998-1999 biennial appropriations, due to the fact that the $7.7 million in errors…

Data from Project Talent are utilized to assess the representativeness of the samples used in the Wisconsin and the Exploration in Equality of Opportunity (EEO) surveys. Adequacy of the measures of academic aptitude and aspiration used in the surveys are examined, and problems with the Wisconsin model are briefly discussed. (RM)

An analysis of the Wisconsin model of achievement asks how powerful this model is in accounting for social influences, aspirations, and attainment when measurement error is taken into account. Revised estimates show support for the Wisconsin model. A revised model is even more powerful for explaining educational and occupational achievement.…

Investigates the reliability of measures of linguistic accuracy in second language writing. The study uses a holistic scale, error-free T-units, and an error classification system on the essays of English-as-a-Second-Language students and discusses why disagreements arise within a rater and between raters. (24 references) (Author/CK)