Higher elementary student scores on standardized tests do not mean educational improvement. Scores can be affected by teaching "to" the test, coaching on test taking, and skewed norms. Test scores have been declining at the secondary level. Included is a discussion of secondary tests. (MD)

A pilot study was conducted on test item ambiguity in standardized tests. A group of second and third grade children were selected and given a random sample of items from four standardized test series. Items were drawn from the reading, science and social studies subtests and put together in a composite reading comprehension, science, and social…

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Revised (PPVT-R) and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) (reading, mathematics, and language subtests) were administered to 61 elementary school students in semi-rural Louisiana. Moderate positive correlations were found between PPVT-R scores and all CTBS subtests except mathematics computation. (GDC)

The concurrent and postdictive validity of two newly-devised tests of contrasting hemispheric function (Test of Right Hemisphere Ability, Test of Left Hemisphere Ability) was investigated relative to scores earned on the reading and mathematics portions of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. (Author/PN)

This study reports the preliminary results of the development and validation of a test designed to measure listening comprehension as a predictor of reading comprehension, the Simon-Dole Listening Comprehension Test (SDLCT). (Author/LMO)

In studying the effectiveness of different instructional programs, a criterion measure can favor one of the programs because there is greater overlap between the content covered on the test and in that program. This overlap can be measured using teacher estimates or teacher estimates combined with curriculum analysis. (Author/BW)

In this study 6,942 items from two standardized achievement test batteries--the Stanford (Early School Achievement Battery, Achievement Battery, and Test of Academic Skills) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills--were analyzed. Focus was on determining: (1) the extent to which these test batteries included general cognitive operations (GCOs)…

Forty-two fourth- and fifth-grade teachers rated their 1,032 students in the five curricular subjects: reading, mathematics, language arts, science, and social science. The teachers' ratings substantially agreed with students' scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, indicating the concurrent validity of standardized achievement tests.…

For a sample of 152 children in grades 2 to 6, interest centered upon concurrent validity of measures of empathy and social sensitivity as conceptualized within the behavioral segment of Guilford's structure-of-intellect model and a criterion measure represented by a standardized test of academic performance. (Author/CTM)

This investigation attempts to determine if the congruity in textbook-test content varies as a function of different styles of textbook use. Across all standardized tests, instructional validity of the five styles of textbook use was far lower for the management-by-objectives model than for any other styles. (Author/PN)

The power of the Slingerland Screening Tests was examined, and a discrepant performance index was developed between cognitive measures to predict early school achievement and class placement for children at risk for specific language disabilities. Subjects were two successive cohorts of entering kindergarten children for whom Slingerland Tests…

The 1978 South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Act mandated that a readiness test be administered to each beginning first grade student, and that the results be used to plan appropriate instruction. The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB) was selected for this purpose. This study was designed to determine if the CSAB provides adequate…

A panel of expert referees from the Philadelphia school district categorized items from secondary-level standardized mathematics tests according to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) subobjectives for mathematics. The following tests were covered by the study: (1) California Achievement Tests (Levels 19 and 20); (2) Comprehensive…

Standardized achievement tests and instructional accomplishment inventories involve different methodologies and cannot be equated by using conventional psychometric methods. Instructional accomplishment inventories are descriptive, and are designed to reflect the scope, sequence, and skills and emphasis in a particular instructional program.…

One means of establishing the validity of performance-based assessments is to determine whether the criteria for basic competencies on performance tests are reasonable in relation to expected (nationally normed) age-level performance. Links between performances on three assessments in Michigan and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills illustrate…