Introduction: This article aimed at digging deep into distractors used for mathematics multiple-choice items. The quality of distractors may be more important than their number and the stem in a multiple-choice question. Little attention is given to this aspect of item writing especially, mathematics multiple-choice questions. This article…

Simulated testing has become more prevalent in higher education, especially as competency-based institutions begin to incorporate micro-credentials and skills certificates into their curriculum. Competency-based assessment falls outside traditional norm-based testing practices used in K-12 education, and is largely focused on criterion referenced…

Student's ability to use and manipulate scientific concepts has been widely explored; however there is still a need to define the characteristics and nature of science ability. Also, the tests and performance scales that require minimal conceptual knowledge to measure this ability are relatively less common. The aim of this study was to develop an…

This contribution shows an example of how an assessment innovation can serve as a flywheel for changing teaching and learning. This article first explains the development of an authentic, competence-based performance assessment in pre-vocational secondary education (pre-VET). Using these assessments in "pre"-VET, that is preparatory to…

Higher education institutions are becoming increasingly engaged in assessing their programs in order to enhance student learning outcomes. States, accreditation bodies and various organizations are calling upon institutions to buildup their accountability towards student learning. Accordingly, multiple assessment methods (both direct and indirect)…

While today's curriculum is largely driven by standards, many teachers find the lack of specificity in the standards to be confounding and even intimidating. Now this practical book provides middle and high school teachers with explicit guidance on designing specific objectives and developing appropriate formative and summative assessments to…

The New Synthesis approach views learning as an active process by which learners create knowledge structures or mental representations. This book attempts to give classroom teachers alternative ways of assessing how their learners think, what they know, and what they can do. The chapters are: (1) "Teaching, Motivation, and Testing"; (2) "Academic…

A knowledge monitoring assessment (KMA) was developed and evaluated. The KMA, which evaluates how well students distinguish between what they know and do not know by comparing their knowledge estimates to test performance, is partially performance based and may be group or computer administered and objectively scored. Participants were 462…

One of the most influential contemporary trends in educational evaluation in the United States is the move away from traditional testing methods toward "authentic assessments," which are designed to measure student performance of skills, abilities, and knowledge directly. While there is no consensus as to precisely what constitutes authentic…

The CONNTAC program marks an attempt to develop an integrative performance assessment process that will measure knowledge, skills, and instructional repertoire of beginning teachers. The development of assessment center exercises and the critical role that scoring plays in exercise development are described. (SLD)

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has contracted with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research to develop and field test performance assessments in mathematics, language arts, and science. Together with a Wisconsin-developed knowledge and concepts test, the new performance assessments will provide important information about the…

Describes the work of a team of university and public school mathematics educators to design mathematics assessment tasks that are effective for at-risk students. Perspectives are offered on the need for alternative mathematics assessment and the dangers inherent in the undertaking. Practical design considerations are discussed. (SLD)

The Educational Testing Service is developing a series of assessments for the licensure of beginning teachers. The third stage of these assessments will measure the beginning teacher's application of teaching knowledge and skills, and the assessments will be performance-based. Job analysis studies were conducted to provide data to define the…

Science assessment has been included with mathematics and language assessment on the international level since the 1970s. This paper discusses techniques of assessment that have been utilized to measure science process skills. The first section discusses the Assessment Performance Unit, a British project with the aim of developing innovative…

Performance-based assessments and the instructional programs from which they emerge and into which they fit demand intelligent caring teachers with experience and knowledge in assessments, instruction, student learning, and human development theory. Full implementation of performance-based assessments requires that teachers discuss performance and…