"Classroom Assessment in Action" clarifies the multi-faceted roles of measurement and assessment and their applications in a classroom setting. Comprehensive in scope, Shermis and Di Vesta explain basic measurement concepts and show students how to interpret the results of standardized tests. From these basic concepts, the authors then…

Describes and applies several alternative distribution criterion to secondary analysis of pre- and post-achievement scores from 15 sixth-grade classrooms. Illustrates examples where a teacher could be considered "effective" under one criterion, but "ineffective" under another. Also addresses policy implications concerning use of alternative…

This report is divided into two parts in order to make the practical outcomes of a content referenced interpretive system for standardized reading tests available for immediate use by teachers and others, while presenting the technical aspects of the studies in a form appropriate for study by researchers in the fields of reading and educational…

This booklet is designed to provide guidelines for testing in reading and suggestions for using the test results in ways which will most benefit the student. Ten canons are presented which are intended to serve as guidelines for program-related assessment within a framework of instructional decision making. They are concerned primarily with the…

Instructional programs organized according to modern educational technology are discussed within the purposes of criterion-referenced measurements used. The problems of criterion-referenced measurements include scoring and score interpretation, item and test analysis, and mastery testing. An overview of solutions and approaches to the problems and…

A technique that can be used in the evaluation of program effectiveness focuses on differences between schools or programs at the item level rather than at the level of total test score. The technique was used to compare the results of norm and objective-reference mathematics achievement tests administered to Michigan fourth graders. (Author/JAC)

The Harris Index of Efficiency was used to evaluate the criterion setting (66%) of the Prescriptive Reading Inventory (PRI), a criterion referenced reading test. The subjects, who were involved in a larger experimental study that used the PRI as a criterion measure, were 92 third and fifth grade students. Initial assessment with the Comprehensive…

This study of curriculum-based assessment of the reading ability of four elementary-level students with learning disabilities found that individual-referenced tests are powerful for understanding instructional effects, whereas norm-referenced tests are best suited for determining deployment and allocation of resources. (DB)

In discussing the third national assessment of reading and literature, four major points can be made. First, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests ignore serious ethical and measurement problems, namely, we don't know enough about individual differences to do such testing and the outcome, social class tracking, is ethically…

An experiment was performed to evaluate the tenability of the assumption in the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I proposed variance estimation procedures for criterion referenced tests. The assumption is that the ratio of the local to the national standard deviation for the national sample will be the same for the normed test as…

A collection of articles related to testing instruments of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) are reviewed. The report has been organized into four sections. The first discusses briefly the background and purposes of the NTE and the hazards of combining data on these tests in research studies. The second section is concerned with articles…

Three distinctions are usually made between norm- and criterion-referenced measures. They are: (1) their measurement forms, that is, student performance in relation to the performance of other students or with respect to some specific criterion; (2) general or specific kinds of objectives in which the measures are founded; and (3) their modes of…

The objectives of this booklet are to provide suggestions, procedures, and rules of thumb to aid the evaluator in using achievement tests in program evaluation. It also discusses some of the theories underlying the procedures for developing and selecting achievement tests and interpreting their results. Each of the six chapters offers advice on…

This program was proposed and implemented to use the analysis of state-test results as a method for initiating specific changes in an existing curriculum and/or course of study. The program involved approximately 110 teachers and seven administrators in a low-middle-class suburban school district. Components of the program included (1) inservice…

A replicable process for improving instruction through the consistent use of student data collected before, during, and after instruction is proposed. A rational analysis of different types of error rates (theoretical, base, posttest, instructional) and discrimination indices (base, posttest) leads to a set of rules for identifying test items and…