Presents the results of a survey by the Assessment and Examinations Committee to seek members' views on modular courses. The majority of the respondents felt that the administration of the course was reasonable, set dates were causing disruption in schools, feedback was too slow and was useful only to some, and the weighting for each test was a…

Recent discoveries about the role of microorganisms in the establishment of the geological conditions in the planet have lead to the development of courses in Geomicrobiology. Unfortunately, most courses are designed for students with a strong Geology background, which is a limitation for universities that lack such courses. To overcome this…

Our recent review of content assessments revealed that language expectations and proficiencies are often implicitly embedded within the assessment criteria. Based on a review of performance assessments used in high school biology settings, we have found a recurring discrepancy between assessment scoring criteria and performance expectations. …

This study was conducted to determine 4th, 5th, and 6th grade Turkish primary students' conceptions about the particulate nature of matter via a test. The test consists of 36 items related to the changes of microscopic properties of solid, liquid and gas matters during phase changing, cooling, heating and pressing of them. The sample of the study…

This study focuses on how the treatment effects of a teacher professional development initiative in science differed by school capacity. In other words, the authors are primarily concerned with treatment effect heterogeneity. As such, this paper complements ongoing evaluation of the average treatment effects of the initiative over time. The…

This paper provides information about Nevada's High School Proficiency Examination (HSPE). The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' knowledge and skill levels relative to those needed for entry-level employment; (3) Determine prospective high…

High school students can access original scientific research articles on the Internet, but may have trouble understanding them. To address this problem of online literacy, the authors developed a computer-based prototype for guiding students' comprehension of scientific articles. High school students were asked to read an original scientific…

This document is a Chemistry 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examination from Alberta Education. It is a 2.5 hour closed-book examination consisting of 44 multiple-choice and 12 numerical-response questions of equal value worth 70% of the examination and two written-response questions of equal value worth 30% of the examination. The exam contains sets of…

This document is a Physics 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examination from Alberta Education. It is a 2.5 hour closed-book examination consisting of 37 multiple-choice and 12 numerical-response questions of equal value worth 70% of the examination and two written-response questions of equal value worth 30% of the examination. The exam contains sets of…

This document is a Biology 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examination from Alberta Education. It is a 2.5 hour closed-book examination consisting of 48 multiple-choice and eight numerical-response questions of equal value worth 70% of the examination and two written-response questions of equal value worth 30% of the examination. The exam contains sets of…

The primary objective of this study was to find the smallest sample size for which equating based on a random groups design could be expected to result in less overall equating error than had no equating been conducted. Mean, linear, and equipercentile equating methods were considered. Some of the analyses presented in this paper assumed that the…

Examples of errors and excess wording found on examinations are given. Some suggestions for improvement are given. (RH)

Presents a report of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Examinations Committee in which the 1981 testing program is described and condensed norms for the ACS examinations are given. (CS)

Used an ecological approach to study the proximal relationship of raters (n=12) and test takers (n=423) formed during the trial of a new science version of a high-stakes, topic-based language test. Reveals a source of test bias that might otherwise have gone undetected by traditional methods. (SLD)