Making inferences and reasoning with new scientific information is critical for successful performance in biology coursework. Thus, identifying students who are weak in these skills could allow the early provision of additional support and course placement recommendations to help students develop their reasoning abilities, leading to better…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of the fall 2015 grades 3-5 Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment (EMSA), a student mathematics test designed to be administered in a whole-group setting to students in grades 3, 4, and 5. The test was administered to 2,614 participating…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades K, 1, and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 4,535 participating grade K, 1, and 2 students in 66 schools located in 9 public school districts in Florida during spring…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades K, 1, and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 4,486 participating grade K, 1, and 2 students in 67 schools located in 10 public school districts in Florida during fall 2015.…

The purpose of this study was to develop a core HIV/AIDS knowledge assessment (CHAKA) for students enrolled in counseling-related degree programs. Although there are studies that examined counseling HIV/AIDS knowledge, the instruments that were used were limited in ways that may compromise the accuracy of the inferences that were made. This study…

In developing alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS), several states have modified existing test items with the aim of enhancing accessibility and reducing difficulty for students with disabilities. Using Grade 8 multiple-choice test items in unmodified and modified forms, two studies examined student…

This paper details a systematic literature review identifying problems in extant research relating to teachers' attitudes toward reporting child sexual abuse and offers a model for new attitude scale development and testing. Scale development comprised a five-phase process grounded in contemporary attitude theories, including (a) developing the…

After a brief introduction and discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires, this publication explains how to develop a questionnaire. Each of the five parts of a questionnaire (heading, procedural statements, items, comment space, and procedures for return) are discussed, with concrete examples. Guidelines for pre-test/tryout…

Test items are designed to be representative of the subject areas that they measure and to reflect the importance of specific domains or item types within those subject areas. Content validity is achieved by content specification and number of items in each content domain included in the design of the test. However, largely due to the normal…

The purpose of this monograph is twofold: (1) to describe the advantages and disadvantages of mail questionnaires as survey research instruments, and (2) to provide guidelines for constructing and utilizing mail questionnaires with a view to maximizing response rates and minimizing response biases. Construction of an effective mail questionnaire…

This report on the development of the Charleston County School District (South Carolina) U.S. History Area Examination outlines: (1) the preliminary planning activities to initiate the development of the test; (2) the development of test blueprints and test specifications; (3) the review of specifications for clarity, completeness, accuracy, and…

This report describes the results from an exploratory project conducted for the National Center for Education Statistics. The purpose of the project was to develop and field test questionnaire items and related methods designed to capture information about the instructional processes used nationally in 8th- to 12th-grade mathematics classrooms.…

In Rasch terminology, two or more tests are linked when they are joined into a pool related to a single scale. When the same item calibrates at a low level on one test and a high level on a second test, it indicates that the item is low on the first test because the other items on that test are higher, and is high on the second test because the…

The premise of this document is that trade instructors and incumbent workers can work together as a writing team to develop test items for vocational education. The development process used by the Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) is described as follows: (1) identify and validate a task list; (2) conduct task analysis;…

This manual is designed to provide teachers with technically sound, easy-to-follow procedures for developing diagnostic tests to be used with their own students. The definition of diagnostic testing is broadened to include any tests systematically designed to provide information about skills that students have or have not mastered. A five-step…