The three articles in this newsletter focus on questions of what teacher knowledge consists of and how it can be measured. Three contemporary efforts to assess teacher knowledge, each with a different purpose, are presented. The first, based on a report of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, summarizes state assessment efforts and…

This preliminary investigation explored a means of maximizing the use of standardized test results. In addition to the usual package of alpha and ranked norm-referenced test reports, a special series of reports by the California Test Bureau/McGraw-Hill was generated for remedial reading and mathematics teachers. These reports displayed primarily…

Minimum competency testing (MCT) programs for students are growing in popularity and being adopted by many states. In order to determine the extent of the MCT movement, researchers at North Carolina State University surveyed state departments of education in all 50 states. In updating these data for 1986-1987, it was found that 64 percent of the…

To identify the aptitude profile of successful guidance counselors, tests were administered to 49 guidance counselors (14 male, 35 female) ranging in age from 29 to 62 (Mean age 42) and having an average of 9.5 years experience. The findings indicated that guidance counselors as a group scored near or above the Johnson O'Connor Research…

As the result of educational reform legislation passed in Texas in 1984, a recertification examination was instituted for practicing elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators. The deadline for successful completion of the test by educators was June 30, 1986. The emphasis was on measuring reading and writing abilities, and an…

Information is presented about the grade 9 mathematics examination to be administered in 1988. Contents include: (1) Introduction; (2) General Information (including Purpose of the Achievement Testing Program, Nature of the Achievement Testing Program, Exemptions from the Achievement Testing Program, Students Receiving Instruction in French,…

The monograph presents eight papers delivered at the 1985 symposium on exceptional Hispanic children and youth. R. Rueda and J. Mercer begin with "A Predictive Analysis of Decision-Making Practices with Limited English Proficient Handicapped Students" which examines the generalizability of a path model to the referral process in two urban…

This booklet contains guidelines to assist school districts in developing programs that meet the requirements of the New York State Bureau of Bilingual Education. The guidelines are presented in six parts: (1) an explanation of part 154 of the regulations, the purpose of which is to establish standards for the use of funds made available by the…

The frequency and diversity of reading and mathematics tests, test approach (norm-referenced or criterion-referenced) and the format of measurement were studied. The contextual variables surrounding test administration and interpretation were examined. The teacher's knowledge of, and attitudes toward, testing were investigated. Results of a…

A study was conducted to determine if attentional difficulties would be found in reading disabled children and to discover if increasing the complexity of a task would result in a relative decrease in the performance of the children. Twelve dyslexic boys, aged eight and nine, and 12 normal subjects similar in age and IQ participated in the study.…

The relative contributions of test anxiety and exam-taking skills to information-processing deficits were investigated in a dual-task paradigm comparing high and low test-anxious students with either good or poor exam-taking skills. Sixty-four undergraduate students (21 males, 43 females) were selected based upon pre-test scores on the Test…

On well-constructed multiple-choice tests, the most serious threat to measurement is not variation in item discrimination, but the guessing behavior that may be adopted by some students. Ways of ameliorating the effects of guessing are discussed, especially for problems in latent trait models. A new item response model, including an item parameter…

This supplement to the "K-12 Physical Education Curriculum Guide," developed by the Department of Education in Manitoba, Canada is composed of four sections. The first section briefly discusses the concept of physical fitness and the purposes and objectives of a physical education program directed toward developing physical well being. The…

In a study to determine whether a shift from Formula scoring to Rights scoring can be made without causing a discontinuity in the test scale, the analysis of special administrations of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Chemistry Achievement Test and the variable section of an operational form of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is…

The advantages and disadvantages of grade equivalent (GE) scores are explored, including appropriate uses for GE type scores and how to bring current GE scales closer to the type of information educators appear to desire. Although GE scores are not an equal interval scale, not comparable across school subjects, and do not indicate the grade level…