Contradictions are inherent in the evaluation of placement test writing, contradictions that at once value and devalue writers and writing, readers and reading. In testing, the evidence for the essay's effectiveness rests almost entirely on the writer's choice of linguistic forms. The characteristics that distinguish evaluation in competency…

The document consists of a 125-item evaluation instrument for use in assessing the overall plan and quality of programs in the area of serious emotional disturbance (SED) or behavior disorders. Questions are organized according to the following nine categories (based on identified components of a well-designed SED program): (1) respondent and…

Communicative competence is often characterized as an integrated control of language reflected in the speaker's ability to understand and use language appropriately for communication in various situations. The theoretical basis for the communicative competence construct is the anthropological, sociolinguistc, and pragmatic view of language.…

This report describes the procedures used to construct and validate the Standardized Test of Computer Literacy (STCL), a criterion-referenced instrument designed to assess students' computer literacy. Following a statement of the study problem and purpose, a description of the study methodology outlines the use of a 12-step model for development…

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of an instrument designed to measure the dramatic and sociodramatic play activity of young children. A total of 31 children were selected from early education programs on the basis of sex and socioeconomic status. The spontaneous classroom dramatic play behavior of each child was…

Development of a standardized curriculum and customized test for mathematics is described. Because of the diversity of the New York City school system, a centrally-planned curriculum became a necessity for continuity and quality. The present mathematics curriculum has been in existence since 1982, and is both comprehensive and cyclical. Five…

Guidelines for examiners administering the School Climate Survey (SCS), the Teacher Satisfaction Survey (TSS), the Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS), and the Parent Satisfaction Survey (PSS) of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) are provided. These four surveys are the initial result of research/development efforts by…

A study investigated the variability of language performance on different types of testing task, global versus discrete-focus. Three tests (cloze, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank) were developed to measure learners' knowledge of five verb forms. The tests, containing corresponding items designed to elicit equivalent structures, were…

The Native American population scores farther from the norm on standardized tests than other minority populations. Native Americans are generally believed to be culturally more different from the rest of the United States population than other minorities are in that the Native American traditional cultures are more intact. This is particularly…

In the early twentieth century behaviorist Edward L. Thorndike began the development and use of measurement scales to replace personal judgment to evaluate student compositions in U.S. public schools. In 1912, utilizing the Fullerton and Catell equal difference theorem, Milo B. Hillegas released the first scientifically designed scale to measure…

The introduction of the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment's (SOMPA's) Sociocultural Scales potentially enables psychologists to more formally acquire and use information about sociocultural characteristics within children's families. However, until now, data on the Scale's stability have not been available. This paper reports the…

Viewing the reliability for criterion-referenced tests as that of mastery classification decisions, three models for determining reliability were examined using two test administrations so that two estimates could be compared to a standard. A major purpose of the research was to determine how several reliability coefficients (coefficient kappa, an…

The internal consistency of the Self Assessment Instrument of Chapter 1 Program Quality (SAICPQ) was studied. This instrument is widely used to assess the implementation of exemplary practices in compensatory education. The SAICPQ is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 13 subscales representing correlates of achievement in studies of…

A three-part correlational study examined the explanatory power of the Lexile theory of reading comprehension, which was based on the semantic and syntactic components of prose. Correlations were performed between the item difficulties of nine nationally normed reading comprehension tests and computer generated difficulties which were reported in…

Previous studies in the area of testing frequency are scarce and outdated, but provide results showing that college students performance improves on objective tests when more frequent tests are given. The purpose of this study was to measure college students' performance on more frequent tests by reducing a unit of study into smaller segments,…