Compares the features, learning outcomes tested, reliability, viability, and cost effectiveness of essay tests with those of interpretive tests used in training programs. A case study illustrating how an essay test was converted to an interpretive test and pilot tested is included to illustrate the advantages of interpretive testing. (MBR)

Reports that no significant difference in reliability appeared between a heterogeneous and a homogeneous form of the same general science matching-item test administered to 316 sixth-grade students but that scores on the heterogeneous form of the test were higher, independent of the examinee's sex or intelligence. (SB)

Discusses methods of sampling the best information from instruction/training developers/candidates for professional certification and examines the problems of interpreting that information and making classification decisions. Assessment strategies including criterion-referenced, multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions, and portfolio…

Based on data from classes of 23 instructors in two institutions, it was concluded that specific items on an appraisal-of-instruction inventory probably do not influence students' global appraisals of instruction. If true, this conclusion has important implications for use of such inventories in appraising the effectiveness of college instruction.…

A Monte Carlo design examined how the effects of guessing and item dependence influence test characteristics and student scores. Although validity for cloze variants was high, multiple-choice cloze had significantly lower reliabilities than did true score equivalents. (Author/PN)

Reviews recent theoretical, methodological, and analytical developments in language testing, focusing on more refined models of language ability, reliability and validity, performance testing, innovative test formats, new applications of Item Response Theory and Generalizability Theory to test performance. An annotated bibliography discusses seven…

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), initially developed for undergraduate medical education, has been adapted for assessment of clinical skills in podiatry students. A 12-month pilot study found the test had relatively low levels of reliability, high construct and criterion validity, and good stability of performance over time.…

The predictive power of the Split-Half version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC-R) Object Assembly (OA) subtest was compared to that of the full administration of the OA subtest. A cohort of 218 male and 49 female adolescent offenders detained in a Texas juvenile detention facility between 1990 and 1992 was used. The…

An instrument for measuring telephone apprehension was developed to facilitate research into hypothesized relationships between communication apprehension and telephone apprehension. A set of 92 Likert-type items was adapted from previous communication apprehension scales and administered to 81 undergraduate students in a speech communication…

Diagnostic testing can provide specific information about student skills as a decision-making aid to teachers in prescribing instruction, identifying needs for remediation, determining effective instructional materials and methods, and ultimately, improving student learning. Diagnostic testing, as viewed here, includes individual and group…

A "modified essay examination" was used to help teach and to assess clinical problem-solving skills with 11 first trimester doctoral students. This examination provided a paper-and-pencil simulation of problems encountered in case management. Students were required to generate hypotheses, formulate questions, discuss issues, and make…

Context effects are defined as being influences on test performance associated with the content of successively presented test items or sections. Four types of context effects are identified: (1) direct context effects (practice effects) which occur when performance on items is affected by the examinee having been exposed to similar types of…

Standards for evaluating criterion-referenced tests are presented. Twenty-one standards, grouped in three categories, are discussed. Category one is defined as measurement properties and is comprised of conceptual validity, including description of the domain, test item agreement with objectives, and item representativeness of the objectives; and…

Reviews the Stanford Writing Assessment Program that has three intended uses: district-wide survey of students' writing ability, diagnosis of classroom or district-wide instructional strengths and weaknesses, and staff development through training for administering and scoring of writing samples. Notes that of these uses, none is necessarily best…

A 100-item five-choice multiple choice (MC) biology final exam was converted to multiple choice true-false (MTF) form to yield two content-parallel test forms comprised of the two item types. Students found the MTF items easier and preferred MTF over MC; the MTF subtests were more reliable. (Author/GK)