This paper describes an approach to large-scale assessment that uses tests that are delivered to students over the Internet and that are tailored (adapted) to each student's own level of proficiency. A brief background on large-scale assessment is followed by a description of this new technology and an example. Issues that need to be investigated…

Large-scale testing programs often require multiple forms to maintain test security over time or to enable the measurement of change without repeating the identical questions. The comparability of scores across forms is consequential: Students are admitted to colleges based on their test scores, and the meaning of a given scale score one year …

Recent implementation of Nebraska's Standards-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System (STARS) introduced a unique opportunity to examine the benefits and drawbacks of a teacher-led state assessment system. STARS is unique among state assessment systems in that statewide tests are replaced by locally developed assessments designed by…

A critical, but often neglected, component of any large-scale assessment program is the reporting of test results. In the past decade, a body of evidence has been compiled that raises concerns over the ways in which these results are reported to and understood by their intended audiences. In this study, current approaches for reporting…

This study was designed to carry out a survey of the implementation of continuous assessment (CA) in Nigerian universities. Two research questions and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. The sample for the study consisted of 1,340 respondents. A 24 item self-report instrument was used for the study. The data generated, were analyzed…

This document describes the breadth of the research being conducted in 2008 by the Research and Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS). The research described falls into three large categories: (1) Research supported by the ETS research allocation; (2) Research funded by testing programs at ETS; and (3) Research funded by…

To deal with an increasing student withdrawal rate from courses, Fullerton College instituted a Skills Prerequisite System, involving mandatory assessment of learning skills in reading, writing, and mathematics followed by prescriptive mandatory placement in appropriate remedial instruction prior to ernollment in skill-dependent, entry-level…

This manual is designed to assist personnel involved in work with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Follow Through Evaluation testing program. Follow Through is a number of planned education programs for children in kindergarten and primary grades (1-3). Job descriptions for each person working in the testing program are included. In addition,…

Instruments and methods are considered by many the nuts and bolts of school testing programs, for both individuals and groups. Too often, the individual is lost in the machinery of such a school program, and data collected becomes the end product of appraisal and assessment. Programs of student appraisal procedures should be developed around eight…

Although emphatically not against the concept of educational accountability, the National Education Association (NEA) feels that a redirection is needed in the implementation of such a system. Because of error, especially in testing minority and poor children, accountability programs should never use test results as the major source of data but…

In-training examinations, those tests designed primarily to evaluate residents in graduate training, were endorsed by the Committee on Goals and Priorities of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Current utilization of these examinations is reported by half of the medical specialty group members of the American Board of Medical Specialties.…

The present study, designed as a pilot study to provide an empirical basis for modifying the PEP testing program, investigated the possibility that teachers could accurately evaluate learning progress without formal testing. (Author)

Offers six Arizona teachers' comments on the new Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP). Discusses how the test affects children, whether the testing procedure is easily understood by teachers, how the ASAP differs from a standardized test, how the classroom teaching process has changed as a result of the test, concerns about the test, and…

Many of us have an intuitive understanding of physics that works surprisingly well to guide everyday action, but we would not attempt to send a rocket to the moon with it. Unfortunately, the authors argue, our policy makers are not as cautious when it comes to basing our school accountability system on intuitive test theory. Intuitive physics…

The U.S. public has consistently favored standardized testing in the schools, preferably with consequences (or "stakes") riding on the results, ever since the first polls taken on the topic several decades ago. Results from different polls approaching the topic in different ways suggest that nearly all Americans would like to see…