In this study, we describe a framework for monitoring rater performance over time. We present several statistical indices to identify raters whose standards drift and explain how to use those indices operationally. To illustrate the use of the framework, we analyzed rating data from the 2002 Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition…

Explores the introduction of grade criteria into the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination as an effort to make clearer the competency and knowledge levels expected of examination candidates in Great Britain. Concludes by exploring problems with this concept and by calling for further clarification of the purpose for this…

Upon learning that a form of the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress was incorrectly distributed to an unidentified number of high school students along with an answer sheet pregridded with an alternate test form, the Austin Independent School District performed the following research analyses: (1) scored the tests using the key for each…

Experience in evaluating responses to poetry in the Advanced Placement Examination can offer guidelines for the effective testing of students on poetry without reducing their interest in the art. For advanced secondary or first-year college students, teachers should avoid approaches and tests that are concerned with (1) extraneous biographical,…

This article reviews the development of, and controversy behind, minimum competency testing at the state and national levels. (WI)

Marking is described as part of the central examinations for secondary general education in the Netherlands. These consist of two components: an external, and an internal school-based examination. Pedadogical implications of general school assessment practice, plus recent trends, are discussed. (BS)

Informs social studies teachers about ways of helping their students prepare for standardized tests by developing classroom exercises that enable students to see relevance and transferability between the classroom activity and the social studies test. (Author/DB)

The author examines previous efforts to establish certifying examinations for high school students and their effects on curriculum and students, particularly minorities. Also, to introduce readers to the rest of this theme issue on testing, he briefly discusses test validity, cutoff scores, and effects on teachers. (SJL)

This bulletin deals with the assessment of religious knowledge in the context of the examinaton for the Certificate of Secondary Education in England. In particular, the examination was devised in the hope of trying to determine whether or not it would be possible to assess the total impact on pupils of a four-year course in religious education…

Project TALENT, a large scale, long range, longitudinal study, is designed primarily to provide insights into the characteristics and development of American adolescents. In order to compare trends in test results, a comprehensive battery of Psychological, educational, and personality measures were administered to participants in the 1960, 1970,…

To assist in the development of policies to eliminate the subtle inequities which inhibit the mathematics achievement of many Black youths, it is suggested that the redesign of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment study Black students' opportunity to learn mathematics. Recommendations for the redesign of…

On March 11 and 12, 1976, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a project of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), and the Clearinghouse for Applied Performance Testing (CAPT), a project of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), cohosted a Minimal Competency Measurement Conference in Denver, Colorado.…

An achievement testing framework is being developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District to assess the educational progress of 14,000 secondary level compensatory education students with something other than standardized tests. The technique of multiple matrix sampling was applied to the use of large item domains in the subject area of…