The partial credit model of G. N. Masters (1982), a one-parameter unidimensional polychotomous Rasch model, was used to reduce the error of measurement, particularly for students near the cut score, and to permit measurement to reflect the actual ability of a student more accurately by reducing the degree of misfit for students near the cut…

An overview is provided of the evaluation of the Lighthouse Project, an education enhancement project that began in one urban and two suburban districts. Its methodology was the context for showing how the focus on the results of a standardized achievement test in mathematics inhibited the implementation of mathematics reform in the elementary…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the cognitive styles of 144 education majors over a 2-to-3-year period culminating in the internship experience. The hypothesis was that scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) following the internship would be more field-independent, and the intent was to document the influence of…

This collection presents evaluation reports on 52 Atlanta (Georgia) public schools. Critical questions and key findings are presented for each school in the areas of: (1) general descriptive characteristics, such as enrollment, student mobility, Chapter 1 services, and prior experiences of students; (2) performance-based achievement on Georgia…

In this paper, performance assessments are cast within a sampling framework. A performance assessment score is viewed as a sample of student performance drawn from a complex universe defined by a combination of all possible tasks, occasions, raters, and measurement methods. Using generalizability theory, the authors present evidence bearing on the…

Whether state average test scores on the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Trial State Assessment in mathematics should be used to compare and rank states according to the quality or proficiency of their educational programs is examined. Data from eighth graders from the Trial State Assessment are analyzed. Analysis shows…

This report examines the second and third years of the Chelsea-Boston University (BU) partnership in which BU manages the Chelsea, Massachusetts, school system. The report summarizes the activities of the partnership (begun in 1989), examines the impact of key players and events, and evaluates BU's impact on Chelsea to date. The partnership's…

This report provides information about the performance of 1991 graduating seniors nationwide who took the American College Testing (ACT) Program Assessment as juniors or seniors. All the average scores in this report are on the scale for the Enhanced ACT Assessment, which was introduced in October 1989. Averages for 1987-89 are based on scores…

The analysis of North Carolina performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is part of a larger program addressing the improvement of public school students' performance on skills measured by the SAT. This second of two volumes presents individual school system profiles for the mathematics and verbal sections of the SAT for the 126 school…

This study examined scores from 133,906 operationally scored Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL®) essays to determine whether the choice of composition medium has any impact on score quality for subgroups of test-takers. Results of analyses demonstrate that (a) scores assigned to word-processed essays are slightly more reliable than…

The redesigned Student Descriptive Questionnaire (SDQ) provides information about the number of years of study and types of courses in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) examinees' academic backgrounds. This study used data from the 1987 National Sample Tape, which contains SDQ responses and score information from 100,000 seniors in the class of 1987.…

A strategy that has been initiated to respond to assertions that out-of-date norms distort standardized achievement test results involves annually updating the norms for achievement tests to avoid the production of inflated scores through aging norms. The effect of the application of normative trend data to the obtained test results in an urban…

The provincial results of the English 33 Achievement Test administered June 8, 1982, as part of the Student Achievement Testing Program of Alberta Education are presented in this report. Following a list of the requirements of Part A (written expression), the first section describes the categories used to assess total expression and the scoring…

A 5-item rating scale was developed for the New York City schools to determine eligibility for English as a Second Language instruction in Category C exceptional students exempted from testing. Most students follow a curriculum of daily living skills, and many are nonverbal. The test was piloted with 163 students including severely, trainable, and…

Alaskan students' scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) increased nine points between 1984 and 1985, matching the national gain. These scores marked the fourth year of increases following 17 years of consistently declining scores. Thirty-three percent of Alaska's high school seniors took the SAT in 1985. The combined score of 923 was 17…