Presents responses of eight teachers concerning the effects of mandated testing. Describes how the teachers cope with the problems raised by mandated tests. (RS)

Investigated most frequent types of examiner errors made by graduate students (n=26) in administering Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and examined on which items these mistakes were most likely to occur. Findings identified deficiencies in traditional methods of teaching students how to administer the WISC-R. Students…

Describes the Dutch rating system for test quality, which evaluates a test for seven criteria, and analyses the results of test ratings from the past 18 years. Results show a steady increase in test quality in the Netherlands that can be attributed to use of better tests and declining use of tests of less quality after evaluation. (SLD)

Describes the 1997 revision of the Dutch Rating System for Test Quality used by a committee of the Dutch Association of Psychologists. The rating system evaluates test quality on seven criteria using a checklist for each criterion. Comment sections provide additional information, and weighting rules establish the final grades. (SLD)

In this article, the author echoes his co-author's and colleague's pleasure (Hill, this issue) at the thoughtfulness and far-ranging nature of the comments to their initial attempts at test validation for the mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) measures using the validity argument approach. Because of the large number of commentaries they…

Applications of item response theory to practical testing problems including equating, differential item functioning, and computerized adaptive testing, require that item parameter estimates be placed onto a common metric. In this study, three methods for developing a common metric under item response theory are compared: (1) linking separate…

This document summarizes the statewide assessment programs required by the Maryland State Department of Education and the exemptions, excuses, and accommodations permitted for each program. All students are to be included to the fullest extent possible in the mandated state assessments. The accommodations for an individual student are meant to…

Reasons why there are few incentives for test publishers to make significant innovations in what is tested or how it is tested are given. A brief discussion of research on growth spurts in the brain, hemispheric differences, and other neurological phenomena is followed by a discussion of some conclusions drawn from this work. While skepticism is…

Major efforts of this project fall into four categories: (1) investigations were performed on the relationship between the dimensionality of a dataset and its underlying cognitive processes; (2) two approaches for diagnosing erroneous rules of operation were developed (an "error vector" system for constructing error diagnostic programs…

Due to the current legislative trend toward competency-based education, and the accompanying minimal competency testing, a variety of local school districts and state education agencies are concurrently developing programs to meet the standards set by their state's legislation. This selective bibliography was compiled in order to aid those…

Several issues are related to the use of educational tests. First, test users must be able to choose appropriate tests, interpret scores, and make decisions based on scores. In the field of educational testing, few test users have adequate training in these areas. Second, test makers must clearly specify directions for administration, allowable…

This paper has shown the advantages of tailored testing over traditional methods, the need for latent trait theory in the application of tailored testing, and some of the results available to show the quality of estimates obtained by tailored testing procedures. Since the tailored testing procedures overcome many of the problems with traditional…

Members (elementary and secondary teachers) of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) were surveyed in preparation for a series of workshops to improve teachers' use and understanding of tests. Results showed generally positive attitudes towards tests, and a specific interest in using tests for diagnostic and prescriptive planning purposes.…

This handbook aims to help parents become more familiar with the testing that goes on in their community schools. The first two chapters provide general background on testing, giving the reason and scope of educational testing today, and highlighting the fundamentals of the testing-measurement process. Chapters 3 and 4 consider the various…

This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of the goals, objectives, and procedures of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Separate chapters discuss NAEP's objectives and organizational development; its division of knowledge into subject areas; the subject-area objectives; exercise development; measurement of background…