Discusses the criterion referenced test and focuses on such questions as What is it? What are the advantages to be gained from a performance-based curriculum and criterion reference evaluation procedures? What are the disadvantages? The Science - A Process Approach program is identified as the most complete and tested example of the use of…

Discusses issues involved in the construction, validity, and use of tests that evaluate educational progress, especially those that assess higher-order cognitive functioning. Reviews the four articles in this special issue. (FMW)

Part of a series which offers educational resources and teaching techniques related to major social issues to high school social studies teachers, the booklet describes and reproduces a test measuring students' economic literacy. Part I is the test manual, which explains the objectives, value, development, and two-form structure of the test. It…

An updated version of Taba's 1966 "Social Studies Inference Test" and "Application of Principles Test" for elementary students is studied. The original tests measured students' abilities to generalize and draw inferences from short paragraphs containing data relevant to social studies. The "Social Studies Inference…

This report presents an overview of research related to the development of the "Wisconsin Tests of Testimony and Reasoning Assessment," a battery of seven tests for assessing student development in the mastery of relevant concepts and skills of verbal argument for grades 10-12. Provided are (1) a discussion of the rationale for and…

The strengths and weakness of standardized tests, and trends in achievement testing in the last 15 years are examined. The discussion of achievement tests includes survey, instructional, diagnostic, and basic skills tests, as well as tests used for formative and summative evaluation. Minimum competency tests are not examined in detail. Advantages…

This examiner's manual accompanies the Learning Style Profile (LSP), which measures cognitive skills as well as affective and environmental preferences. Charles Letteri's General Operations Model was accepted as the prototype for relating learning styles to cognitive information processing. The LSP was developed from 1983 to 1986; several versions…

This paper provides a theoretical discussion of educational program evaluation. Psychometric theory and developmental psychology are compared as they pertain to the testing of children. The nature of change in childhood makes it necessary to examine the assumptions and goals related to the testing of children as a means of evaluating educational…

The document reports an outside evaluation of a Niagara Falls Adult Basic Education Program special project entitled "Identification of Preferred Cognitive Styles and Matching Adult Reading Program Alternatives for the 0-4 Grade Levels." It was concerned with (1) research, training in cognitive style mapping, and development of a survey…

The HEW 309(b) Special Project carried out by the Niagara Falls Adult Basic Education program, "The Identification of Preferred Cognitive Styles and Matching Adult Reading Program Alternatives for the 0-4 Grade Levels," involved research, training in cognitive style mapping, and development of a survey and process to assess the adult…