Recent years have produced a surge in interest in improving state assessment programs. Many states are designing new assessments. Much of this innovation is aimed at addressing longstanding areas of unhappiness with typical domain-sampled, end-of-year state assessments: States want to streamline assessment activities, enhance the instructional…

A good assessment plan combines many direct and indirect measures to validate the collected data. One often controversial assessment measure comes in the form of retention exams. Although assessment retention exams may come with faults, others advocate for their inclusion in program assessment. Objective-based tests may offer insight to…

The evaluation of a testing program is necessary before or during a sound total project evaluation. Ideally, the testing program study should be concurrent with, and equal in magnitude to, the total project evaluation. Step one in an evaluation is to define the testing program's objectives in operational terms. Step two is a thorough description…

A DISCUSSION OF TEST VARIABLES AND THE TESTING PROGRAM OF THE PROJECT WAS INITIALLY PRESENTED IN THIS DOCUMENT. CAUTION WAS PARTICULARLY EMPHASIZED IN THE INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS USING STANDARD ACHIEVEMENT TESTS WITH SUBJECTS FROM THE MODESTO MULTI OCCUPATIONAL PROJECT. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED PROGRAM EVALUATION INCLUDED ADDITIONAL…

In reviewing the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) testing procedures, the author notes that the assessment of student achievement and the planning of individualized instructional sequences involve valid and reliable measurement of many of the relevant characteristics of the learner. He criticizes the placement testing procedure as…

The testing sub-program is designed to provide the diagnostic instruments necessary to measure pupil progress through the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) curricula. Its objectives are to provide information about pupils which teachers can use to direct each child's individual learning program, to provide the measurements necessary for…

Challenges to classical psychometric theory are examined in the context of a broader range of fundamental, derived, and intuitive measurements in psychology; the challenges include content-referenced testing, latent trait theory, and generalizability theory. A taxonomy of psychological measurement is developed, based on: (1) purposes of…

The Ohio Career Development Program was evaluated and students were tested in order to carry out that evaluation. (RK)

Local educational agencies and county office staff are provided with information and specific guidelines on the development, maintenance and evaluation of local district testing programs. This manual contains New Jersey approved criteria for local testing programs, a step-by-step presentation of methods for planning, designing and evaluating…

Examines the claims of the developers of the Adult Performance Level (APL) program to improve the teaching and testing of adults enrolled in federally supported adult basic education programs, identifies APL's theoretical problems, scrutinizes the technical aspects of its development, and evaluates the role of the U.S. Office of Education in these…

The Eindtoets Basisonderwijs (final primary school test) is a Dutch national achievement test taken annually by 90,000 pupils. This article overviews the Dutch educational system and describes this testing program, emphasizing test equating methods. Evaluation findings from 1980 and resulting changes in test content and evaluation reports are also…

This is the first in a series of reports on the educational progress of Texas public schools. It reviews the concerns that led to the development of the integrated accountability system now used in Texas and examines this system relative to those of other states. A major new research and evaluation effort, the Statewide Texas Educational Progress…

The American College Testing Program (ACT) routinely evaluates the fit of its tests to the curriculum of high schools nationwide to ensure that what is being assessed reflects what is being taught as necessary for college success. This report describes the steps ACT has taken to ensure that the content foundations of the ACT Assessment Mathematics…

A statewide sustained effort to improve student learning in Missouri by adopting and adapting promising research-based educational practices is described. The concept of an Instructional Management System (IMS) with desired learner outcomes determining both instruction and testing was suggested to local school districts beginning in 1980. In 1985,…

In 1984 an evaluation team examined the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP), a statewide competency-based, criterion-referenced testing program that was instituted to limit awarding of high school diplomas to those students who had earned scores above cut scores on a series of achievement tests. This article examines the procedures the…