How much do 17-year olds know about U.S. history and literature? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been gathering information about the educational attainment of American students in a variety of subject areas, but no study had focused solely on students' basic knowledge of American history and their familiarity with major…

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…

Research on the lack of correlation between standardized tests and school district goals has suggested that district goals might be better met by supplementing standardized tests with district-made criterion-referenced testing systems. This article reports on the development of such a system, the Academic Learning Progress Assessment System…

The Georgia Teacher Certification Testing Program includes 28 criterion-referenced tests designed by National Evaluation Systems, Inc. (Amherst, Massachusetts) and covering 28 different teaching, leadership, and service fields. This publication offers an overview of the test development process, test validation procedures, test administration…

A method for equating test scores between two standardized achievement testing programs was developed. The first test was the Survey of Basic Skills (SBS) published by Science Research Associates. The second was the Tests of Individual Performance (TIP) of the Portland Public Schools in Oregon. Scores reported in Rasch units (RIT) from the TIP…

The manual describes the differences between low-inference observation and rating scales when evaluating teachers. Procedures for observing are set forth. The body of the manual defines and exemplifies the 115 items used on the observation instrument as well as the use of two other instruments used before and after the observation, i.e., the…

The structure of this report is as follows: First, specific aptitude theory and general ability theory, the two theories of the relation between ability and job performance, are presented and differentiated. Second, there is a discussion of problems in the current use of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) and of problems in the use of…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) Office of Research and Evaluation presents the 1982-83 final report on Student Achievement. The major positive findings, as well as the major findings requiring action, are listed. The report discusses AISD student achievement in a question-answer format. (1) How does AISD student achievement compare…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the analysis of data collected by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In simplest terms, the analysis can be characterized as establishing baseline estimates of the percentages of young Americans possessing certain skills, knowledge, understandings, and attitudes and…

The feasibility of using item response theory (IRT) as a psychometric model for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test was addressed by assessing the reasonableness of the assumptions of item response theory for GRE item types and examinee populations. Items from four forms and four administrations of the GRE Aptitude Test were…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of the direct and indirect influences that testing has on students. Subjects consisted of 12 male and 127 female kindergarten through grade 12 teachers in North Carolina--a state that mandates standardized testing. Districts may use only those test required by the state or they may use…

In the interests of improving and ensuring the quality of teachers in the schools, testing is increasingly becoming an integral part of the certification process. Almost all states currently require that prospective teachers pass a test either as a requirement for entering a teacher education preparation program or after completing such a program…

This test booklet contains items testing sixth grade social studies achievement. The test was administered by the Alberta (Canada) Department of Education in June 1985. Ten short-answer items are included, as well as an essay question. Three pages are allowed for the essay question, and forty minutes are allowed to complete the entire test. The…

This paper describes the experiences of the Ector County Independent School District (Odessa, Texas) in selecting published achievement test to determine the effectiveness of a newly established curriculum. A task force of 24 faculty and staff met for three months. During this time they reviewed the district's philosophy of testing, developed new…

Eight provinces and two territories have built a Canadian General Educational Development (GED) testing program. The Canadian GED program has a number of major Canadian characteristics that have evolved due to a certain inner logic set in motion as the provinces and territories joined the GED program. In order, these provinces and territories have…