Results are presented of an investigation made to (1) provide a description of the testing models that are currently being used in selected individualized instructional programs, (2) compare three programs along the component parts of the testing model, namely, selection of a program of study, criterion-referenced testing on the unit objectives,…

Procedures for establishing standards and determining the number of items needed in criterion-referenced measures are reviewed. The discussion of setting a passing score is organized around five factors: performance of others, item content, educational consequences, psychological and financial costs, and measurement error. Classical test theory,…

The aim of the present study was to develop a model for a criterion-referenced mastery reading comprehension test for university English-as-a-foreign-language courses. The research confirmed the hypothesized relationship between learners' needs, reading tasks, course content and their cumulative contribution to the formulation of the criteria of a…

Testing models of three instructional programs (Individualized Prescribed Instruction, Program for Learning in Accordance with Needs, and Mastery Learning) are described and compared. Several important lines of research that could contribute significantly to the quality of testing and decision-making within the context of these and other…

Describes the development of a domain-referenced system intended to both describe and classify current writing assignments and to create composition assignments. (HOD)

Explores the implications for student behavior of different standards. Shows that competition between students does stimulate academic effort provided students are appropriately rewarded for achieving and argues that stratifying students into groups in which each has a chance for success may be preferred to the setting of a single national…

While the usefulness of branched testing over conventional paper-and-pencil testing has been in doubt, particularly for the student of average ability, this has been with reference to normative measures rather than the criterion-referenced measures characteristic of individualized instruction. A computer-assisted test model for assessing an…

This paper presents an evaluation of Army job training development and testing practices, with a focus on Advanced Individual Testing. Information comes from intensive interviews with school instructors and from observations in the schools. Results indicate that some aspects of the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) model have been…

This report provides additional detail on the problems of test and measurement and cost analysis associated with performance contracting programs. The guide, addressed to school board members, administrators, and other educational decisionmakers who may be contemplating a performance contracting program, delineates the questions, issues, and…

This study focuses on basic mathematical skills mastered by middle school students. A test designed for the investigation was administered to 400 seventh- and eighth-grade pupils in three middle schools in Houston, Texas. The test, which focuses on fractions, was administered by the regular mathematics teacher during the mathematics class period…

The 1975 Community/Junior College Conference sought to define and describe evaluation, discuss measuring devices, and underscore the ethical reasons for fair evaluation. William P. Gorth began by discussing the purpose of evaluation--to provide data to a specified decision-maker for decision-making--and the implications which could be drawn from…

The need for improved measures is particularly acute in reading because, in spite of the magnitude of time and effort which continues to be invested in reading, there is no insurance that the outcome is indeed proportionate to the effort involved. How much of the educational system's performance relative to its own goals is measured by a…

In this paper, several models for the psychometric nature of criterion-referenced tests are presented and results derived with implications for test construction, reliability and validity measures, and educational decision making. Both dichotomous and continuous underlying abilities to perform are considered. Illustrative data fitting both cases…

The development of a single value revision indicator which would utilize learner performance data obtained from a pretest-posttest design to rank a set of instructional modules as to their relative need for revision is discussed. A set of procedures was developed in connection with the implementation of the Production, Implementation, Evaluation,…

The emphasis in this study is on the development of a diagnostic measurement model for instruction. The content used was junior high science, but the content and subjects were used primarily as a means to an end. The model represents an attempt to incorporate Gagne's learning taxonomy into Tyler's model of the educational act. Focus is on the…