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…

This study investigated the practice of weighting a type of test item, such as constructed response, more than other types of items, such as selected response, to compute student scores for a mixed-item type of test. The study used data from statewide writing field tests in grades 3, 5, and 8 and considered two contexts, that in which a single…

In preparation for adding an essay test to the General Educational Development (GED) test, the GED Testing Service undertook a series of studies to establish (1) whether acceptable reading reliabilities were attainable in decentralized holistic scoring sessions often involving no more than a dozen papers; (2) whether essay readers in a variety of…

Since the writing section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) computer based test (CBT) is a single-prompt essay test, it is very important to ensure that each prompt is as fair as possible to any subgroups of examinees, such as those with different native language backgrounds. A particular topic of interest in this study is the…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between scores on the multiple-choice General Educational Development (GED) Writing Skills test and scores on holistically graded essays. Secondary purposes included the following: (1) examining the relationship of essay scores to scores on the multiple-choice GED Reading Skills…

Data presented in this report are the results of the special assessment of writing mechanics conducted during the 1978-79 school year by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). The purposes of the study were (1) to examine writing abilities of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students enrolled…

Although computer-based testing is becoming popular, many of these tests are limited to the use of selected-response item formats due to the difficulty in mechanically scoring constructed-response items. This limitation is unfortunate because many constructs, such as writing proficiency, can be measured more directly using items that require…

The studies reported here focus on the effects of mode of administration of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in grades 4, 8, and 10. These studies, which draw on earlier studies, also examine the mode of administration effect at different levels of keyboarding speed and for students who received special education (SPED)…

A statewide sample testing of writing skills in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grades was conducted by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program in the fall of 1982. This report, which shares the writing assessment information (historical, descriptive, and interpretive) for educational decision-making, was prepared in the hope of increasing…

The College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) is mandated as part of Florida's system of educational accountability. The CLAST is an achievement test that measures students' attainment of the college-level communication and mathematics skills that have been identified by the faculties of community colleges and state universities. Four subtests…

The College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST), mandated as part of Florida's system of educational accountability, is an achievement test that measures students' attainment of the college-level communication and mathematics skills that have been identified by the faculties of community colleges and state universities. The essay subtest examines…

In 1991, a student learning outcomes assessment was conducted at Wenatchee Valley College, Washington. All English 101 students in the winter and spring quarters of 1990 wrote a 2-hour final exam. Winter quarter students wrote on the same topic while spring quarter students wrote on one of three randomly assigned topics. Five English 101…

This report covers the levels of basic skills (verbal and computational skills and elementary algebra skills) among freshmen admitted to New Jersey's public colleges and universities during 1988. These levels of proficiency are estimated from results of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test. Designed both to assist colleges in the…

Technical questions regarding the reliability and validity of large-scale portfolio assessment were studied which focused on: (1) whether raters can score collections of writing reliably with rubrics designed for single samples; (2) whether ratings derived from different frameworks differ in their capacities to support technically sound…

In 1982, writing was added to the North Carolina Annual Testing Program. Results from the 1990-91 writing evaluations in grades 6 and 8 are reported. Tests were read by two readers, with an agreement rate of over 71%. In 1990-91, sixth-grade students were asked to describe a kitchen so that readers could picture it. Quality was determined on the…