The framework and tools used for classroom assessment can have significant impacts on teacher practices and student achievement. Getting assessment right is an important component in creating positive learning experiences and academic success. Recent government reports (e.g., United States, Australia) call for the development of systems that use…

The reporting of scores on educational tests is at times misunderstood, misinterpreted, and potentially confusing to examinees and other stakeholders who may need to interpret test scores. In reporting test results to examinees, there is a need for clarity in the message communicated. As pressure rises for students to demonstrate performance at a…

Three groups of persons are involved in the testing enterprise: test producers, test users, and test takers. A wide literature is available to guide the first two groups, but only recently have measurement professionals considered the interests of test takers in any careful way. The content of this chapter is presented as a set of 26…

Judges (N=10) scored items from the Comprehension, Similarities, and Vocabulary subtests of the WISC-R. Five were inexperienced undergraduates and five were experienced Phds. Overall, there were no appreciable differences in the percentages of agreement between the two groups. (Author)

Scoring categories and administration instructions are given for use with the manual for the Draw-A-Classroom Test. The manual, also available, should be consulted if drawings are to be scored. This appendix to the manual is divided into five sections on space, persons, drawing the person, classroom constants, and objects. Specific details of the…

Some basic statistical concepts relevant to the teacher--mean scores, standard deviation, normal and skewed distributions, z scores, item analysis, standard error of measurement, reliability--and their use by the teacher are explained. (RM)

In the United States, standardized educational tests have been used for assessment purposes in grades K through 12 almost since the inception of the testing movement in the early 1900s. Because test-based assessment can have wide-ranging positive or negative effects on K-12 students, the test user must ensure that the tests used for assessment…

This report compares the assumptions and values embedded in scoring criteria used in five states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, and Vermont) for alternate assessments of students with significant cognitive disabilities. The five states use different alternate assessment approaches, including portfolio assessment, performance assessment,…

This paper is based on guidelines developed in 1989 for training workshops for state and local educators to demonstrate the processes by which performance assessments could be created, validated, and used in statewide assessment programs. These guidelines are based on work with the National Assessment of Educational Progress and several statewide…

The widely used Woodcock Johnson (WJ) Test of Achievement has been separated into two distinct tests, Achievement and Cognitive Abilities. This book is designed to help busy mental health professionals acquire the knowledge and skills they need to use the third revision of the WJ Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) , including administration,…

This book is designed to provide fundamental information concerning the procedures necessary to administer, score, interpret, and report findings from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent[TM] (MMPI-A), the most widely used objective personality assessment instrument for adolescents. The chapters are: (1) "Overview";…

Sample guides for both holistic and analytic scoring of elementary school students' writing samples were written by the California State Department of Education. This article describes how the guides were developed and validated and explains complementary uses for the two types of scoring. (PP)

Describes some of the hazards of evaluating timed typewriting by the error cut-off method. (MU)

This manual for administering, scoring, and interpreting the Individual Learning Disabilities Screening Instrument is introduced with the definition, prevalence, and etiology of learning disabilities. Next, a sample of the Individual Learning Disabilities Classroom Screening Instrument (ILDCSI) is provided. The administration and scoring of 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…