Variation in test performance among examinees from different regions or national jurisdictions is often partially attributed to differences in the degree of content correspondence between local school or training program curricula, and the test of interest. This posited relationship between test-curriculum correspondence, or "alignment,"…

Universal screening in elementary schools often includes administering curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBM-R); but in first grade, nonsense word fluency (NWF) and, to a lesser extent, word identification fluency (WIF) are used because of concerns that CBM-R is too difficult for emerging readers. This study used Kane's argument-based…

Five of the common misuses of tests are reviewed: (1) acceptance of the test title as an accurate and complete description of the variable being measured (failure to examine the manual and the items carefully to know the specific aspects to be tested can result in misuse through selection of an inappropriate test for a particular purpose or…

This study examined initial evidence of changes in fit to a unidimensional model for some language tests at multiple ability levels. Seven data sets were analyzed using the first phase of exploratory factor analysis: principal component eigenvalue extraction. Each data set is analyzed at varying n-sizes: whole group; random subsample; and five…

The research literature provides important guidance to counselors working to keep abreast of the latest thinking regarding best practices and recently developed counseling tools. The purpose of this digest is to highlight a few errors that seem to recur within the literature, and to provide some helpful references that further explore these…

A study investigated the effectiveness of the Rasch procedure in measuring response appropriateness, especially for the detection of cheating on multiple-choice language tests. The report gives background information on appropriateness measurement and its potential uses, reviews recent research on cheating and its detection, and describes three…

Too few researchers understand what statistical significance testing does and does not do, and consequently their results are misinterpreted. This Digest explains the concept of statistical significance testing and discusses the meaning of probabilities, the concept of statistical significance, arguments against significance testing,…

This book provides basic skills and knowledge about assessment so that teachers can expand their ability to deal with appraisal problems in their own settings. The first section deals with the basic principles of assessment. The second section concerns creating and applying assessment tools. The third section reviews issues in understanding and…

The use of analyses of achievement test data, particularly longitudinal data, in a wide range of court cases bearing upon educational policy and practice is examined, with an emphasis on assessments of the educational progress of students. The main purpose of the project is to show that assessments of educational progress (i.e., student learning)…

Data from the Canadian Test of English for Scholars and Trainees (CanTEST) are compared to data from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to establish CanTEST as a valid admissions tool for English-as-a-Second Language college applicants. Data are taken from four groups of examinees who took both tests. (eight references) (LR)