The goal of test item writing is to create measures of the true achievement dimensions desired, not extraneous abilities or related skills. To encourage university instructors to apply newer test item writing technologies to test construction for course examinations, this paper: (1) sets forth basic principles for quality item writing; (2) reviews…

Presented is an annotated list of 422 science education research reports published during 1983. Provided with each entry is the title, author(s), source, annotation, and (when applicable) educational level. Also provided is the ED number for those items available from the Educational Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). The following types of…

While many institutions have utilized TOEFL scores for international admissions for many years, a speaking section has never before been a required part of TOEFL until the development of the iBT/Next Generation TOEFL. So institutions will need to determine how to set standards for the speaking section of TOEFL, also known as TOEFL Academic…

Since standardized tests of English foreign language seem to lack external validity, a new test, the New Cloze Test (NCT), was developed and validated as a placement test for foreign students. Details of the test design, including paragraph preparation, word deletion, and recommended methods for administration and scoring are discussed. Subjects…

To determine the competency level required of a one-year graduate from barber school and to obtain information that would enable vocational-technical schools to plan their curriculum to better meet student barber needs, a survey was conducted in Wisconsin of 629 barber shop managers, 75 journeymen, and 200 apprentices. Picked at random, these…

The effects of humorous test questions on test performance of high and low-anxious college students was investigated. It was hypothesized that humor should reduce the anxiety level of high-anxious subjects, and thus improve their performance, while having little effect on low-anxious subjects. Students were assigned to a low or high-anxious group…

After a survey of current methods of studying lexical acquisition, none of which are really suitable for studying how specific words are acquired and used by adult learners and how such usage differs from that of native speakers, a method is proposed for the study of such qualitative aspects of second language lexical acquisition. Learners are…

Cooperative testing is a rather specific and practical aspect of validity generalization or test transportability. It refers to two or more units of government combining their testing and/or recruiting efforts. The Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970 (P.L. 1-648) made specific provision for cooperative examining in stating that the Civil…

This module on elements and procedures involved in planning instruction is the fifth of 11 modules in the set, Introduction to Teaching Adults. Designed to meet the learning needs of part-time continuing education instructors, these modules can be used as resource materials for local workshops or study-discussion groups, as self-instruction (each…

Educational Progress in Careers (EPIC), Inc., was organized (1) to develop and validate a system for evaluating career, economic, and community education projects in Florida schools and to assist educators and school district administrators in assessing the status of career, economic, and community education programs; (2) to develop valid data…

The technology of transforming sentences from prose instruction into test questions was examined by comparing two methods of selecting sentences (keyword vs. rare singleton), two types of question words (nouns vs. adjectives), and two foil construction methods (writer's choice vs. algorithmic). Four item writers created items using each…

The development of reading and language awareness was investigated by measuring beginning letter and word knowledge in five- and six-year-old children of average ability. A letter and word reading test was constructed on the basis of a hierarchical representation of linguistic awareness of preschool children; 50 children's performance on this test…

The career education project conducted by the Mesa (Arizona) Unified School District was designed to develop a written objectives-based Model Accountability System (MAS) that identifies terminal career education behaviors according to several themes, specifies assessment items for each objective, and provides a monitoring system and mastery…

Item response data were obtained from large samples of students in Grades K-community college, taking the following tests: Stanford Early School Achievement Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Stanford Test of Academic Skills, Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, and Stanford Diagnostic Mathematical Test. Data were classified as fitting or non-fitting…

The process of constructing a test to assess geographic knowledge and understandings of fifth and sixth grade pupils is discussed. In addition, a draft of a test to measure geography skills and knowledge of physical and human geography is presented. The document is presented in three sections. In section I, information is presented on test…