Scores are the most visible and widely used products of a testing program. The choice of score scale has implications for test specifications, equating, and test reliability and validity, as well as for test interpretation. At the same time, the score scale should be viewed as infrastructure likely to require repair at some point. In this report…

Describes procedure for combining Stanford Achievement Test items with local supplementary items to measure individual and aggregate student performance in mathematics. Two reports are generated from the test results: a diagnostic report of student mastery of each objective and an overall score. (TE)

A comprehensive review of test practices and recommendations for setting up a district testing program that will meet informational needs. (Editor)

The 1981-82 System-Wide Testing Program (SWT) introduced the initial administrations of the Assessment of Baseline Curriculum Survey and the Language assessment scales. The Basic Objectives Assessment Tests, the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills, and District-adopted, norm-referenced tests were continued as implemented in previous years. The…

Criticisms of norm referenced standardized tests are contrasted with the assumption and claims of proponents of Rasch model testing and item banking. The Rasch test theory model is based on the assumption of equal interval curriculum referenced scales for both students' abilities and test item difficulties. The Portland school district has…

This fourth report in the 1973-74 series presents a compilation of the scores of Michigan's fourth and seventh grade students who participated in the educational assessment. Results of the objective-referenced test data reveal that while none of the objectives was attained by all of the students, performance levels were quite high for some of the…

Rasch model statistics and domain-referenced test development methods were used in the Virginia Basic Learning Skills (BLS) testing programs and the Graduation Competencies testing program in order to increase the fairness and effectiveness of those programs. Mastery of each of the 83 objectives in reading and mathematics for grades one through…

The validity of criterion-referenced interpretations of the proficiency scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is discussed. A major goal of the NAEP scales is to describe student achievement in specific content areas from grade 3 (age 9 years) through grade 11 (age 17 years). The numerical values for NAEP scales are…

The scales of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as constructed, do not yield meaningful criterion-referenced interpretations. Poorly defined NAEP goals and the present knowledge base do not allow the measurement of what examinees can and cannot do. Inappropriate interpretations of NAEP data are discussed, with specific…

In 1982 the Dade County Public Schools (Florida) began developing test item banks for secondary subject areas, because other testing programs have limited utility for assessing the quality of curriculum, instruction, or learning in specific content areas. In May l984, the approximately 17,000 seventh graders enrolled in Life Science and the…

This study was undertaken to develop guidelines for making interpretive inferences from scores on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), a norm-referenced test of English-language listening comprehension (LC) and reading (R) skills, about level of ability to use English in face-to-face conversation, indexed by performance in…

A statewide sample testing of writing skills in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grades was conducted by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program in the fall of 1982. This report, which shares the writing assessment information (historical, descriptive, and interpretive) for educational decision-making, was prepared in the hope of increasing…

In discussing the third national assessment of reading and literature, four major points can be made. First, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests ignore serious ethical and measurement problems, namely, we don't know enough about individual differences to do such testing and the outcome, social class tracking, is ethically…

In the 1973-74 Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), new objective-referenced tests measuring some of the state-level minimal mathematics and reading performance objectives were introduced. These tests and the reports of results provided classroom teachers with extensive information about the performance objectives. Tests similar to…

The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) is a statewide testing program in reading and mathematics (with other subject areas tested on a sampling basis). The MEAP tests are administered every fall to all fourth, seventh, and tenth graders. This Handbook was developed to assist educators in analyzing, using, and reporting MEAP test…