Describes a contract grading technique which includes assigned and optional laboratory work and the grades attached thereto. (SL)

Reviews laws, conditions, and categories of learning and educational theory-building. (SL)

Examples of possible methods for unobtrusively evaluating student progress through real problem solving outcomes without formal testing are illustrated. These methods include the use of interviews, artifacts, observations, I learned statements, checklists, flow of discussion charts, and self-awareness exercises. (MN)

Reported are methods employed for measuring consistency in teacher assessment of practical notebooks in A-level biology. Use of criterion referenced scales is discussed. (CS)

A computer-assisted testing system (LEVEL3) was designed to provide frequent, meaningful, diagnostic feedback to basic medical science students. (JY)

Suggests that interracial differences in mean IQ might be erased depending upon the social psychological characteristics of the test setting and the socioeconomic background of the testee. (Author/DEP)

Describes how instruments for testing early reading development of children are designed and applied. Oral reading errors made by two children at different stages of reading proficiency are described and implications for teachers of reading are discussed. (Author/DB)

A critical review is presented of research conducted during the past 20 years on multiple-choice tests of achievement and aptitude. The design and use of multiple-choice tests is emphasized, but information concerning the socioeducational implications of relying on such tests is also included. (Author/CB)

Eighty unimpaired adults took the iconic-symbolic (I-S) subtest of the Muma Assessment Program under traditional protocols and revised instructions like those used in classic studies of classification ability. Only 18 functioned at the symbolic level as defined by the protocols; revised instructions more frequently evoked the expected symbolic…

Reviews literature on the use of content validity to establish the job-relatedness of assessment centers. Attempts to show that content validity requires more than the careful construction of stimulus materials, how these stimulus materials are presented to candidates and how responses to these stimuli are evaluated are also critical…

In many of the 40 states where assessment is required by state law or policy, faculty members and administrators have shaped assessment programs so that colleges have the flexibility to use several kinds of measurements, not just tests. Some of the political controversy brought about by assessment requirements are described. (MLW)

Discusses two recent court cases highlighting the legal pitfalls facing mandatory drug testing programs for teachers and students. In both cases, the courts contended that blanket testing policies violated Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Testing of individual teachers and students (under reasonable suspicion) may…

Reports on a study to determine the development of children's understanding of seven properties of the arithmetic mean and to assess the effects of material used in the testing and the medium of presentation. Some differences were found in children's reasoning. No significant differences were found for materials or medium of presentation. (PK)

The majority of two national samples of SAT and GRE test takers reported that they thought the test they had taken was fair, that it did not influence their application decisions, and that its importance in the decisions of the institutions they applied to was secondary to their previous grades. (Author/MLW)