Discusses considerations in developing assessment and placement programs: which students should be tested, why admission tests and high school grades are inappropriate for placement, how testing should be carried out, which tests should be used, and how tests should be interpreted. (DMM)

Discusses validity issues associated with three popular content-general reading college placement tests and then presents a theoretical argument to support an alternative placement procedure using content-specific testing. Proposes that content-specific tests would have improved content-related and construct-related validity. States that more…

The Virginia Community College System established an ad hoc committee to review its testing program. Each member college was polled as to the areas of skills, potential, or aptitude it desired measured in each of seven curricula areas. The detailed responses of each college are included in the report. The committee established the following…

Offers a review of ERIC documents providing descriptions of testing programs and evaluations of student assessment programs, as well as materials focusing on assessment validity, state testing initiatives, and cohort testing. (DMM)

The migrant lifestyle, in which a student moves to a new school nearly three times per year, destroys the continuity of educational programs and contributes to abnormally high dropout rates. Educational testing can help improve educational continuity for migrant students by yielding valuable information about their levels of skills mastery so they…

This book addresses some of the important considerations surrounding the use of tests and assessment procedures when applied to students who are culturally, linguistically, and/or socioeconomically different from mainstream North Americans. Chapter 1 introduces the problems of using standards based on a white Anglo-Saxon perspective to assess and…

The question examined extensively in this document is why socioeconomic status and race are related to academic achievement. While most explanations look to the cognitive or cultural deficiencies of lower class and minority students, this volume considers an alternative explanation. Prevailing definitions of academic achievement undoubtedly…