e-Textbooks and e-learning technologies have become ubiquitous in college and university courses as faculty seek out ways to provide more engaging, flexible and customizable learning opportunities for students. However, the same technologies that support learning can serve as a source of frustration. Research on frustration with technology is…

This article aims to give a comprehensive guide to planning and designing vocabulary tests which include Identifying the skills to be covered by the test; outlining the course content covered; preparing a table of specifications that shows the skill, content topics and number of questions allocated to each; and preparing the test instructions. The…

Validity evidence based on content is critical for making inferences about examinees' responses to test items. Traditionally, content validity has been established by specifying the content domain of an instrument, through reviews by subject-matter experts, through alignment studies, or by reporting measures of internal consistency, such as…

Providing two or more versions of multiple-choice exams has long been a popular strategy for reducing the opportunity for students to engage in academic dishonesty. While the results of studies comparing exam scores under different question-order conditions have been inconclusive, the potential importance of contextual cues to aid student recall…

Survey data are widely used in higher education for purposes such as assessment and strategic planning. One of the most common ways of using surveys has been to assess student learning outcomes by means of proxy questions on a survey, assuming that students who engage in specific behaviors (called engagement) have learned more during college than…

This study attempted to verify points of intersection (POIs) between mathematics and science in the eighth grade Sunshine State Standards (SSS), and to develop a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate these POIs as they were presented in the respective mathematics and science textbooks approved for use in Florida public schools. Shannon and…

The purpose of this paper was to describe the process of development of assessment instruments for the Comparing Options in Secondary Mathematics: Investigating Curriculum (COSMIC) project. The COSMIC project was a three-year longitudinal comparative study focusing on evaluating high school students' mathematics learning from two distinct…

Student perceptions of classroom environment can provide useful criteria for evaluating educational alternatives. The My Class Inventory (MCI) was used with 588 3rd- to 5th-grade students in Texas in evaluating the effectiveness of instruction using a textbook, science kits, or a combination of both. Various analyses attested to the factorial…

Suggests that the popular and simple readability formulas may not be accurate enough to predict the instructional materials best suited to the reading abilities of secondary school students. (FL)

An introductory textbook on psychological tests and measurements is presented in paper back booklet form. The style is informal and humorous, and the book is intended to appeal to the contemporary student. Ten chapters constitute the text: (1) On Measurement and Existence; (2) A Brief, Imprecise History of Psychological Testing; (3) The Creation…

This study compared four different approaches to identifying technical words in an anatomy text. The first approach used a four step rating scale, and was used as the comparison for evaluating the other three approaches. It had a high degree of reliability. The least successful approach was that using clues provided by the writer such as labels in…

The second edition of "Foundations of Psychological Testing: A Practical Approach" is a text for undergraduate students new to the field of psychological testing. Using a conversational format, the authors aim to prepare students to be informed consumers as test users or test takers. Features new to the second edition include: (1) New Content; (2)…

Seventeen educational measurement textbooks were reviewed to analyze current perceptions regarding true-false achievement testing. A synthesis of the rules for item writing is presented, and the purported advantages and disadvantages of the true-false format derived from those texts are reviewed. (TJH)

Reports findings of a study that examined the extent to which the variability observed in reading levels of common junior high textbooks was also present in four popular high school social studies texts. (FL)

A study was conducted to determine whether interjudge reliabilities on assignments of comprehension questions to the Barrett Taxonomy categories could be attained and whether the taxonomy could be used as a criterion to assess varying levels of reading comprehension questions in various reading textbooks. A total of 623 questions from three fourth…