This paper provides a history of ETS's role in developing assessment instruments and psychometric procedures for measuring change in large-scale national assessments funded by the Longitudinal Studies branch of the National Center for Education Statistics. It documents the innovations developed during more than 30 years of working with…

Michigan's superintendent of public instruction is convinced that a state testing program can provide the kind of information educators need to improve instructional planning. (Author)

The current status of state testing programs is assessed drawing primarily on information provided by the Educational Testing Service publication, "State Testing Programs, 1973 Revision." Increases in state operated programs are indicated and are probably due to an increase in federal money for testing purposes. Because of possible…

Groups of approximately 300 undergraduate educational psychology students participated in an instructional program, involving weekly instructional objectives, weekly exams, remedial exams, and a point system of scoring. It was assumed that the percentage of students not attaining the passing criterion on the initial exam but returning for the…

An outcome of the excellence movement has been an increase in state control of education, especially through state-mandated testing, as testing has become the preferred means of trying to effect change in education following the popularity of accountability and minimum competency testing. Suggestions for using tests prudently are listed. (DCS)

Consideration is given to the degree of congruence between objectives and test items in the evaluation of objective-based testing. An analytic technique that measures congruence is described, and a bibliography is provided. (CK)

An urban school district affected by testing in the effective schools context is described in order to provide examples of the effects of testing on teaching and the curriculum. The report describes the method of operationalizing the effective schools research using test information. An important catalyst to improving the instructional program was…

Procedures for administering the Proficiency Testing Program, adopted by the Idaho State Department of Education, are explained in this test administration manual. The tests are described as given on a district optional basis to ninth grade students in the basic skills areas of reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics. Criterion-referenced…

Focusing on technical issues, this paper critiques proposed changes in assessment procedures at the further educational level (ages 16 through 18) in England and Wales. Major structural changes are taking place at this educational level, partly because of large scale youth unemployment. The two current examination systems for the final year of…

Norm-referenced tests (NRT) help compare the performance of one student with the performances of a large group of students, while criterion-referenced tests (CRT) focus on "what test takers can do and what they know, not how they compare to others" (Anastasi, 1988). Both types of test can be standardized so that scores can be interpreted the same…

A wave of criticism has been leveled at standardized achievement tests of basic skills. Part of the debate concerns the types of tests administered, such as the Standardized/Norm-Referenced tests, Criterion-Referenced tests, Minimum Competency tests, National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, alternatives to standardized tests, IQ tests,…

Implementation of the Proficiency Testing Program, adopted by the Idaho State Board of Education, is explained in the districts coordinator's manual. The tests are described as administered on a district optional basis to ninth grade students in the basic skills areas of reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics. Criterion referenced tests are…

Outlines the specifications for objective-based programs in career education, describes the development of one component (an item and objective bank) of an objective-based woodworking program, and discusses the development of objectives and test items and the utilization of criterion-referenced testing data. A sample of the woodworking objectives…

The Ontario Ministry of Education conducted case studies of the testing programs in nine selected school districts. Results are presented in narrative form on the major study questions: testing program development and organization, the tests administered, uses of test results, and perceived role of the ministry in evaluation programs. (SJL)

This report is designed to provide numerical data about student performance on the curriculum of the Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools (BPS) as measured by curriculum referenced tests (CRTs). BPS Department of Educational Testing analyzed data from the 1986 CRT final exams in: reading and language arts (grades K-8), high school English (six…