This study reports on the development, administration, and analysis of a test of collocational knowledge for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners of a wide range of proficiency levels. Through native speaker item validation and pilot testing, three subtests were developed and administered to 98 ESL learners of low-intermediate to advanced…

A computer-based questionnaire was developed to help parents who have not received specialized training to determine whether their young children need further assessment for diagnosis of developmentally at-risk status. The computer automatically determines a starting point for a series of questions according to the child's chronological age. The…

Discusses the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards system of National Board Certification and the effect of the performance-based assessment on teaching and education. The article offers a rationale for National Board Certification, describes three general components (standards, assessment, and professional development), and examines…

Many teachers use cooperative learning methods during instruction but face the problem of aligning evaluation techniques with that instruction. Described are methods to include cooperative problem solving in evaluation, including strategies to identify possible grading schemes, to make appropriate problem choices, and to evaluate individual versus…

Development of educational testing in Hungary is reviewed regarding recent political and social changes. Relatively few areas in the educational system use tests regularly. The current political climate is expected to bring new standardized tests. A national core curriculum is planned with more autonomy for local-level and school-level decisions.…

The factorial validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the equivalence of factorial measurements and structure across groups were studied for 163 intermediate-grade teachers, 162 secondary school teachers, and 218 university teachers in Canada. Reasons why the MBI may not be appropriate for university educators are discussed. (SLD)

A case study is presented of a second-grader whose parents receive a report that her reading and mathematics achievement is far below grade level, based on a newly implemented computer-based assessment and intervention program. Discussion concerns her previous grades, assessment results, the constructivist theory-based curriculum, and legal…

The aim of this study was to assess test takers' attitudes and beliefs about an admissions test used extensively in graduate schools of business in the United States, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and the relationships of these attitudes and beliefs to test performance. A set of attitude and belief items was administered by…

To refocus its professional development plan, Chaska Middle School East (Minnesota) looked at where student achievement was lagging. Using the Killion back-mapping model, a student-focused, data-driven, multi-step process by which teachers gather and study student data to determine where professional growth, development, or training is most…

This paper reports on a case study that evaluates the validity of assessing students via a computerized peer-marking process, rather than on their production of an essay in a particular subject area. The study assesses the higher-order skills shown by a student in marking and providing consistent feedback on an essay. In order to evaluate the…

Many topics in aging research address questions about group differences in prediction. Such questions can be viewed in terms of interaction or moderator effects, and use of appropriate methods to test these hypotheses are necessary to arrive at accurate conclusions about age differences. This article discusses the conceptual, methodological, and…

The proportion of public schools' meeting their prescribed achievement targets under the No Child Left Behind Act appears to have fallen slightly in the 2005-06 school year, while the percent classified under the law as needing improvement increased. The trends bear out earlier predictions that schools would find it increasingly hard to show…

Not since the development of the objective paper and pencil test early in the century has an assessment method hit the American educational scene with such force as has performance assessment methodology in the 1990s. Performance assessment relies on teacher observation and professional judgment to draw inferences about student achievement.…

This paper discusses a study that sought to design an instrument for assessing the nonverbal ability of foreign language learners. The subjects were 28 educated Japanese non-native speakers (NNS) of English and 20 educated North American native speakers (NS) of English. Materials used were the institutional Test of English as a Foreign Language…

This report describes alternative assessments in vocational education, reviews examples from extended case studies, and discusses criteria to use to choose among assessment alternatives. Chapter 1 is an introduction that contains brief summaries of each of the six assessment alternatives to familiarize the reader with the range of the sample and…