The problems of shifting from norm-referenced assessment to criterion-referenced assessment have been identified by several scholars in recent years. These important critiques touch on a number of areas, but neglect a key question about how assessors learn to accomplish what Shay calls a "socially situated interpretive act". Research…

Fifty-three high school males took a minicourse on library usage. All were randomly assigned a topic and given response sheets requiring the use of dictionaries, encyclopedias, periodicals, and books. In a discussion session, all received instructional handouts. Students were assigned either to evaluating two peers' pretests (experimental) or…

This study established criterion-referenced standards for selected tests of arm and shoulder girdle strength and endurance in college females. Tests of trained and untrained students using the contrasting groups method yielded criterion cutoff scores that classified subjects as trained or untrained based on upper arm and shoulder girdle resistance…

Because of misconceptions regarding appropriate measurement strategies, it is necessary to draw distinctions between two major measurement methodologies, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measurement, as they relate to determining basic academic capabilities. Norm-referenced measures are used to ascertain an individual's performance in…

The Sheffield (Great Britain) Occupational Functional Reading Project was organized to study the functional reading required of 16-year-old school leavers who entered employment or training for a job, and to design instruments for assessing and diagnosing occupational functional reading abilities. The primary task of the project was to develop a…

Studies on the criterion validity of student evaluation-of-instruction instruments are analyzed, and recommendations are offered for future research into student evaluation of instruction. The main problem, and probably the reason for the lack of validity studies, is that it is difficult to agree on what the criteria of effective teaching should…

An experiment was performed to evaluate the tenability of the assumption in the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I proposed variance estimation procedures for criterion referenced tests. The assumption is that the ratio of the local to the national standard deviation for the national sample will be the same for the normed test as…

A collection of articles related to testing instruments of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) are reviewed. The report has been organized into four sections. The first discusses briefly the background and purposes of the NTE and the hazards of combining data on these tests in research studies. The second section is concerned with articles…

This study, part of a larger effort to assess the effects of the Anthropology Curriculum Study Project course, "Patterns in Human History", was designed to assess the learning dynamics involved in a short lesson sequence from Part I on the concept of social position. Random structured samples of 82 project and 82 control students were…

The volume focuses on topics discussed at a symposium on research methodology in special education, with emphasis on the special educator's perspective. Following an introductory section (three chapters), are three sections with 17 chapters which cover the following topics: design of educational prescriptions--behavioral objectives and criterion…

A discussion of second language program evaluation focuses on the interpretability of test scores as a criterion in program evaluation. It looks at both test design and research design issues. First, eight method-comparison, program evaluation studies that compare acquisition-based and analysis/practice based methods are described. Acquisition…

The purpose of this research was to develop and field test a new flowchart model prescribing specific operations for tryout and revision of prototype multi-media self-instructional treatments. The methods and results of the following four phases of the study are described: (1) design of a MK I flowchart model based on a review of the literature;…

This journal highlights five papers by international authors on various topics in education. In the first article, it was hypothesized deductively that extroverts will show more fluctuations in attending than introverts and that individuals with high neuroticism show more fluctuations in attention span than less neurotic persons. The second…

A review of educational measurement journals indicates that the decade of the 1970s and up until about 1984 was the time when substantial numbers of studies dealt with criterion-referenced measurement, and the era in which criterion-referenced measurement advances were made. Although there appears to be less interest in publications today, a…