A manual is presented to familiarize the teacher with the two major components of the New Mexico evaluation effort: (1) the objective-based procedure and the tests used to measure a school and district's progress toward those objectives, and (2) the statewide testing program which utilizes norm-referenced tests and provides both individual and…

Three methods are presented for interpolating fall norms from data derived for tests administered in spring. One method used the midpoint between two spring administrations, the second adjusted for date of fall testing, while the third method used experimental data that showed slower growth rates during the summer months. (CTM)

This report presents results of cognitive ability tests administered to 3 to 5-year olds who were graduating from Parent-Child Center (PCC) programs in 14 cities. PCC programs are designed to maximize the potentialities of low income preschoolers through in-center, home-based, or in-center/home-based combination programs. The findings reflected…

Despite their advantages over other assessment techniques, current achievement and ability tests are not especially efficient sources of information for the range of educational decisions for which they are used and relied upon. Two major types of tests, criterion-referenced and norm-referenced, and two types of use, student evaluation and program…

In the 1992-93 school year, in response to a request from the Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD), the district's Office of Research and Evaluation conducted a retrospective examination of the 1991-92 AISD programs to determine cost-effectiveness when possible. This report describes the review process.…

The potential use of criterion referenced tests (CRT) and norm referenced tests (NRT) in the same testing program is discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of each are listed, and the best solution, a merging, is proposed. To merge CRTs and NRTs into an overall testing program, meaningful and useful to all levels, consideration must be given…

This paper delineates several problems which arise when criterion-referenced test results are used to evaluate the effects of a specific educational treatment. Focus is on these topics: (1) the aggregation of individual students' data on objectives, (2) the sensitivity of the instrument to instruction, (3) the interpretation of…

While much has been written on the topic of criterion-referenced testing and consequently its comparison with norm-referenced testing, measurement specialists have not as readily approached the subject of the implications involved in reporting such test information. The purposes of this paper are to (1) draw distinctions between criterion and…

The effectiveness of Mississippi's Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) was evaluated after its third year of operation, determining: (1) whether first graders who were exposed to teachers and assistant teachers who had been in ATP for three years continued to make progress in academic achievement; (2) the effectiveness of ATP in fostering achievement…

The report evaluates a K-14 career education exemplary project in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, for the year 1974-75. It was concluded that the evaluation findings were not valid measures for the effectiveness of the program because the time constraints did not allow for a pretest/posttest design. Student performance was measured against norms…

A description of two proposals for alleviating the racial and ethnic bias in tests of achievement used in schools is presented. One of them entails adding steps to the construction procedures used in building norm referenced achievement tests; the second entails using criterion-referenced achievement tests rather than standardized tests for…

A transition program at the American College of Life Underwriters which is moving into criterion-referenced measurement, but is also maintaining some of the desirable aspects of norm-referenced measurement, is discussed. Two programs that have moved into the criterion-referenced measurement area are the Cassette/Review Program of the Zimmerman…

A norm-referenced achievement test, in combination with supplementary items, can be used to produce norm-referenced data as well as objective-referenced data. The experiences of the Palm Beach County (Florida) school district in developing and using such a test are described. (EGS)

The problem of a perceived decline in secondary school students' reading comprehension and the efforts of one high school English department head to address that problem are described in this paper. The first section of the paper presents an extensive documentation of the decline in reading comprehension and of reactions by state and local…

The goal of the district assessment program of the Des Moines (Iowa) school district is to provide information which improves teaching and increases learning. Students participate in a number of assessment activities, including norm-referenced, standardized tests, college entrance examinations, Advanced Placement Tests, the district's…