This paper outlines: the importance of clinical assessment of speechreading; problems in assessment of speechreading, such as intertalker differences and lack of correlation with other traits; issues in measuring change in speechreading performance; viseme scoring on open-ended response tasks; new approaches to the speechreading assessment; and…

Computer adaptive language testing (CALT) offers a variety of advantages; however, since CALT cannot test the multidimensional nature of language, it does not assess communicative/functional language. This article proposes to replace multiple choice and cloze formats and to apply CALT to live-action simulations. (18 references) (LB)

Extensions of unidimensional appropriateness indices are developed for multiunidimensional tests (multidimensional tests composed of unidimensional subtests). Simulated and real data (scores of 2,978 students on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) were used to evaluate the indices' effectiveness in determining individuals who are…

Educational Testing Service's (ETS) international testing of student achievement (1988) was supported by politicians seeking simple answers, but results were badly flawed and pointless. ETS emphasized global comparisons among countries on a single achievement scale, using an arbitrary formula heavily weighted toward computation; actual questions…

Suggests that ELLA (English Language and Literacy Assessment ) implemented in New South Wales, Australia, fails four tests for sound diagnostic assessment set out in a standard reference (K.W. Howell et al. "Curriculum Based Evaluation")--tests for logicality, reliability, validity, and accuracy and practicality. (RS)

Claims that arguments about the invalidity, purposelessness, and misleading nature of ELLA (English Language and Literacy Assessment ) implemented in New South Wales, Australia, remain intact despite attempts to counter the arguments. Presents a detailed critique of arguments presented in an article in the previous of this journal supporting ELLA.…

Two achievement testing programs in New York City that have had and are having some consequences are described, and how the school system tries to determine and deal with these consequences is explored. Cooperation and open dialog between test publishers and the school district are making it possible to deal with the real-life problems of test…

Describes why and how assessment and accountability can and have become destructive forces. Offers a historical perspective, and examines the crux of the problem: "polluted test scores." Offers examples from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test, and from Chicago's summer school program. Points to directions educators might take…

Concerns about and objections to competency-based assessment in higher education are examined, including superficiality, use of inference, neglect of knowledge and of process, and subjectivity. It is concluded that, although each objection raises an important issue, in each case, a well-designed competency-based assessment system can overcome…

A study investigated the preferences of 158 middle school students with and without disabilities for specific adaptations in general education classroom testing. Open-notes and open-book tests were among the adaptations most preferred. Students with disabilities and/or students with low achievement indicated significantly higher preference than…

This article presents the author's comments on ""Lake Woebegone," Twenty Years Later" by J. J. Cannell, MD. J. J. Cannell's article on the so-called "Lake Woebegone" effect for K-12 educational testing systems is mostly an historical account of technical issues and policy considerations that led in part to development…

Issues surrounding the statewide competency testing of at-risk students are discussed. Sanctions, such as negative evaluations of educational programs associated with such tests, used to fall most heavily on schools and staff, but tests are increasingly becoming prerequisites for promotion and graduation, with increasing impact on students.…

Dichotomous search strategies (DSSs) for computerized adaptive testing are similar to golden section search strategies (GSSSs). Each middle point of successive search regions is a testing point. After each item is administered, the subject's obtained score is compared with the expected score at successive testing points. If the subject's obtained…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is compared to the two studies of the National Educational Longitudinal Studies (NELS) Program--the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972 (resurveyed in 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1979) and the 1980 High School and Beyond study (partially resurveyed and retested in 1982). The third phase…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) currently tests seventeen-year-old students enrolled in public and private secondary schools, but it does not test "out-of-school" seventeen-year-olds who have either graduated or dropped out. Estimating that one of five seventeen-year-olds is out of school, the interpretability of…