Although the Angoff procedure is among the most widely used standard setting procedures for tests comprising multiple-choice items, research has shown that subject matter experts have considerable difficulty accurately making the required judgments in the absence of examinee performance data. Some authors have viewed the need to provide…

When accurately assigned and administered appropriately, testing accommodations help ameliorate the effects of personal characteristics that limit access to critical information and prevent a person from demonstrating his or her true abilities in the tested domain. Inaccurate assignment or misuse of accommodations may counteract the benefits of…

"Teaching the test" has been defined in terms of teaching those particular content knowledges or skills needed to answer the test items correctly. Evidence of several sorts examined in this paper clearly indicates that New Century was teaching students in Providence, R.I., the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, which was used to assess their…

This report represents the results of an investigation of the appropriateness of criterion-referenced tests (CRTS) for large-scale evaluations. First, the development and validation of CRTS, including the formulation and generation of CRT objectives, items, and score-interpretation schemes and dimensions of item and test quality, were examined to…

Differences in program goals, theory, populations served, methods, duration, staff, and evaluation measures make it difficult to compare the effectiveness of different infant intervention programs. Formative evaluation is suggested as a way of ensuring that programs are being carried out. Where effectiveness is in doubt, process evaluation can…

Educational accountability is examined from the viewpoint of (1) history--the development of the concept from that of cost accounting to one of the educator's responsibility to parents and taxpayers; (2) new requirements of the Ohio state government for yearly reports on student skills in various subject areas according to sex, race, size of…

Existing uses of assessment data obtained from the Jordanian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (GSECE) are critically examined. The failure to fully realize potential uses of data is explored and explained in light of the existing testing technology and the associated level of expertise. A short description of the GSECE history,…

The orientation of this report is that of identifying educational projects which can be considered truly exemplary. The bulk of the report consists of a 23-step procedure for validating the effectiveness of educational programs using existing evaluation data. It is not intended as a guide for conducting evaluations but rather for interpreting data…