This paper seeks to extend the application of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods in item response theory (IRT) to include the estimation of equating relationships along with the estimation of test item parameters. A method is proposed that incorporates estimation of the equating relationship in the item calibration phase. Item parameters from…

Assesses the results of a study of spelling development on the junior high level. Concludes that spelling instruction in the upper grades is worthy of serious consideration. (NKA)

This article evaluates five causal model of educational productivity applied to learning science in a sample of 882 fifth through eighth graders. Each model explores the relationship between achievement and a combination of eight constructs: home environment, peer group, media, ability, social environment, time on task, motivation, and…

Test scores for fall and spring administrations for two consecutive years for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I students in the Tucson Unified School District are presented and compared. The students were given out-of-level tests: the 138 seventh-grade students and 106 eighth-grade students were given Level 2 of the…

The roles of attention in reaction time and in relationships among reaction time, intelligence, and achievement were studied in seventh graders. Reaction time measures were correlated with attention and perceptual speed as well as general intelligence and achievement measures. Implications for current theories linking reaction time and…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), Form U were administered to all students in Grades 5, 7, and 9 in the San Diego City Schools during the last two weeks of April, 1983. This report is intended to respond to two primary questions: (1) how are San Diego elementary and junior high students doing relative to the national norm group, and…

The sampling of test items found within the Science portion of selected standardized achievement test batteries is examined. The lack of sensitivity of such items to the curriculum changes often attempted in Earth Science is demonstrated. The following five standardized achievement test batteries commonly administered to pupils in grades 7-9 were…

Effective leadership appears to be an element of a successful school, but few studies have covered either leadership in small and rural schools or effective schools with the ethnic mix of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American students. This study's population consisted of the 24 New Mexico rural public elementary schools having an enrollment of 500…

The principal purpose of this project was to find what, if any, early indicators exist to identify incoming students whose academic performance in high school would be high. The corollary objective was to consider what types of intervention strategies might be designed to assure that students so identified would fulfill their early promise. An…

The elementary schools attended by students may affect their attitudes toward and academic performance in junior high school. Eighth grade students attending a junior high school in Kentucky in 1980 were asked to indicate how they felt about junior high school before they entered the seventh grade and what their attitudes were by the end of the…

A program to improve sixth through eighth grade underachieving students' reading comprehension was developed. Students were identified by comparing their anticipated and actual national percentile scores on the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). A survey of students' reading behavior, a review of…

This study attempts to detect the presence of either of 2 different categories of large-scale bias in 4 widely used mathematics achievement tests: induced bias and norming bias. Subjects were 407 eighth graders. (IAH)

The general purposes of this study were to investigate the factorial validity of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), Reading Comprehension subtest, and to study the item difficulties in order to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses of sixth and seventh grade Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I students. A sample of…

Three test-analysis models were used to analyze three types of simulated test score data plus the results of eight achievement tests. Chi-square goodness-of-fit statistics were used to evaluate the appropriateness of the models to the four kinds of data. Data were generated to simulate the responses of 1,000 students to 36 pseudo-items by…

Each spring students in fifth, seventh and ninth grades in the San Diego City Schools complete a series of tests as part of the annual Districtwide Testing Program. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) are used to measure student knowledge of various broad areas of the curriculum. This bulletin presents results of student achievement in…