Equating is an essential tool in educational assessment due the critical role it plays in several key areas: establishing validity across forms and years; fairness; test security; and, increasingly, continuity in programs that release items or require ongoing development. Although the practice of equating is rooted in long standing practices that…

Diagnostic assessment is currently an active research area in educational measurement. Literature related to diagnostic modeling has been in existence for several decades, but a great deal of research has been conducted within the last decade or so, especially within the last five years. The author summarizes the key components in the application…

Purpose: To provide educationalists with an understanding of the key quality issues relating to multiple-choice tests, and a set of guidelines for the quality assurance of such tests. Design/methodology/approach: The discussion of quality issues is structured to reflect the order in which those issues naturally arise. It covers the design of…

Psychologist Andrea diSessa coined the term "phenomenological primitives", or p-prims, to talk about nonexperts' reasoning about physical situations. P-prims are primitive in the sense that they stand without significant explanatory substructure or explanation. Examples are "Heavy objects fall faster than light objects" and "Continuing force is…

Results obtained when a procedure for assessing the questions on uniersity mathematics examinations to see what skills were needed for their solution are given for a sample of 1400 questions set during 1976 in 10 British universities. The method is a way of focusing rational argument. (MNS)

In spite of new methodologies in foreign language instruction, much testing is still of the traditional type. Paper and pencil tests are given, testing in exactly the same way the teachers themselves were tested. This article suggests 25 points for language teachers on all levels. (Author/PJM)

The decision of whether to use essay tests or multiple choice tests depends on several qualifiers related to the different characteristics of the tests and the needs of the situation. The most important qualifier involves matching the type of test to the instructional objectives being tested, with multiple choice tests being used to measure a…

DICOT, a computer program for the Rasch analysis of classroom tests, is described. Results are presented in a self-explanatory form. Person ability and item difficulty estimates are expressed in a familiar metric. Person and item fit statistics provide a diagnosis of individual children and identification of problematic items. (Author/DWH)

This study examined four measures of creativity as predictors of mathematics and science performance in a program for talented high school students (N=29). Correlational analyses indicated that the How Do You Think Test (HDYT) and ratings on the Teachers' Evaluation of Students' Creativity (TESC) were predictive of the students' performance in the…

Indicates that if the cloze scores of students in a small group are well distributed, then it is possible to identify which essays would be selected as best and worst by an English professor. Shows that cloze testing constitutes a relatively effective placement instrument when the readers are unschooled. Includes statistical tables. (JD)

A content-oriented analysis of written solutions to test items in Israeli high school graduation examinations in mathematics yielded six error categories: misused data; misinterpreted language; logically invalid inference; distorted theorem or definition; unverified solution; and technical error. (Authors/MNS)

Effective writing assessment involves judging how well a writer is encouraged by the classroom's social context to pull together ideas and to bring experience to bear on abstractions. Four main points can be made to justify this view. First, assessment by standardized test determines a teach-and-test model of instruction. But a curriculum that…

An achievement test for the secondary school vocational electricity programs in South Carolina was constructed by a research coordinating unit (RCU) project. A trade and industrial supervisor and consultant, three electricity instructors, and four industry representatives comprised an advisory committee that participated in its development. Three…

Education standards are left to the discretion of individual states. However, efforts to help states and local school districts define world-class standards are intensifying. The U.S. Department of Education, the National Education Goals Panel, and New Standards, a partnership of 17 states and 6 school districts, are among those involved. (MLF)

This handbook addresses the complex and expanding vocabulary of performance assessment and measurement by providing a glossary of related terms and lists of resources for the student, practitioner, and policymaker. Performance assessment includes all forms of such assessment from multiple choice and paper-and-pencil tests to alternative…