Promoting Acceleration of Comprehension and Content through Text (PACT) and similar team-based models directly engage and support students in learning situations that require cognitive elaboration as part of the processing of new information. Elaboration is subject to metacognitive control, as well (Karpicke, "Journal of Experimental…

This document describes the breadth of the research being conducted in 2008 by the Research and Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS). The research described falls into three large categories: (1) Research supported by the ETS research allocation; (2) Research funded by testing programs at ETS; and (3) Research funded by…

This paper considers three areas related to the testing of minimum knowledge and skills: public policy, the nature of higher-order thinking and selected aspects of educational measurement. The discussion of public policy issues centers around an apparent dichotomy of egalitarianism and elitism in public education, schooling and the public economy,…

A cognitive process approach is applied to this discussion of the nature and relationship of skills, thinking, and social studies knowledge. To make understanding explicit, the paper addresses: (1) the meaning of cognitive skills and their role in thinking; (2) generic versus specific skills; and (3) implications for the National Assessment of…

In assessing the quality of science teaching for an effort such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it is important to understand what is meant by scientific thinking--the search for explanations. Instruction should involve higher-order cognitive skill development, but it is difficult to measure reasoning and understanding…

Although most interactive systems seem to facilitate user work, the system described--an interactive examination system--increased the time required by as much as 100 percent. Students taking an exam interactively and on paper were videotaped. Analysis showed the extra time went to system overhead, think time, and trouble understanding what to do.…

This paper reviews literacy and literacy assessment in America, in relation to the various National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessments. Literacy can be defined and assessed only in relation to literacy demands. A current concept of literacy distinguishes between reading comprehension as an outcome of lexical access and…

The purpose of this resarch was to develop a model of verbal information processing for use in subsequent analyses of the construct and predictive validity of the current Department of Defense military selection and classification battery, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) 8/9/10. The theory and research methods of selected…

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are reviewed to outline the achievement levels of students in the United States. This examination of NAEP data showing changes in levels of achievement during the 1970s leads to a number of conclusions. The overall picture for 9-year-olds is promising. The outlook for 13-year-olds,…

This study investigated whether top-down or bottom-up cognitive processing was more important in listening comprehension in large-scale English-as-a-Second-Language tests administered to secondary school students in Hong Kong over a period of seven years. Results suggest that bottom-up processing was more important than top-down processing in…

This paper discusses higher-order cognitive skills, provides examples of appropriate test item content in various subject areas, and describes higher-level cognitive skills which might be tested by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Higher-order cognitive skills are said to be more difficult to measure than simpler skills;…

IN PHASE I (OF THREE) OF A RESEARCH PROJECT, 475 SOUTHERN DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN (RANGING IN AGE FROM 3 TO 6) WERE TESTED IN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DESCRIPTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND SEQUENCING OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES DESIGNED TO YIELD INFORMATION ON CHILDREN'S LEARNING WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND CURRICULUMS. COGNITIVE TASKS WERE SELECTED…

The method of utilizing a criterion-referenced testing system by employing the following progression of curriculum development is recommended: 1) A theory of childhood development or learning is identified; 2) Curriculum is developed based upon that theory; 3) Criterion-referenced tests, with items stated in behavioral terms, are developed. An…

The 63 items on skills in acquiring and using information from written documents contained in the Survey of Young Adult Literacy in the 1985 National Assessment of Educational Progress are analyzed. The analyses are based on a qualitative cognitive model and an item-response theory model. (TJH)

In 1985, for the first time, Pennsylvania's student assessment program included measures of a higher order thinking skills goal termed Analytical Thinking. These tests utilize a decision-making model to assess such skills as drawing inferences, identifying appropriate information to gather before making a decision, analogical reasoning,…