The report discusses the development of written job proficiency examinations for four Mail Processing Equipment (MPE) positions (MPE apprentice, MPE mechanic, MPE senior mechanic, and MPE supervisor). After a brief introductory chapter, the next chapter describes the determination of examination objectives and the desirability of testing specific…

A novel scoring procedure was investigated in order to obtain scores from a conventional multiple-choice test that would be free of the guessing component or contain a known guessing component even though examinees were permitted to guess at will. Scores computed with the experimental procedure are based not only on the number of items answered…

Presented is a description and copy of a test manual developed to include items in the test on the basis of children's performance; each item correlated highly with performance on an external criterion. The external criterion was the Individual Competency Measures of the elementary science program Science - A Process Approach (SAPA). The test…

This mastery test is designed to accompany unit 1 of the first-semester 12th-grade "Comparing Political Experiences" course. The 21-item multiple-choice test was developed by the National Evaluation Systems, Inc. in conjunction with the project directors to determine whether the unit objectives have been achieved. The test measures…

This mastery test is designed to accompany unit 2 of the first-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course. The 27-item multiple-choice test was developed by the National Evaluation Systems, Inc. in conjunction with the project directors to determine whether the unit objectives have been achieved. The test measures student…

This mastery test is designed to accompany unit 3 of the first-semester 12th-grade course, "Comparing Political Experiences." The 26-item multiple-choice test was developed by the National Evaluation Systems, Inc. in conjunction with the project directors to determine whether the unit objectives have been achieved. The test measures…

This report summarizes the development and validation of a test of literal comprehension based on a modified cloze technique. This modification of the cloze offers an objective and partially computerized procedure for constructing items in the multiple-choice format. A field test of the multiple-choice cloze (MCC) involved the administration of 36…

A method for establishing minimal acceptable performance levels for criterion referenced multiple choice examinations is described and two procedures for evaluating its validity are discussed. The method involves assigning a priori item difficulties based on the similarity between the distractor and the correct response. In estimating the validity…

This study investigated the relationship between instructor ratings of taped microteaching performance and achievement on multiple choice examinations. Thirty graduate students enrolled in a reading methods course served as subjects. An analysis of the data indicated that no significant correlation existed between the variables. The viability of…

This instrument assesses readiness for school in preschool disadvantaged children. Two forms, A and B, are available and it is recommended that one be used as a diagnostic pretest and the other as a progress measure. The test is an individually administered, non-verbal, untimed, but paced instrument. The child responds to questions, given in…

This study is concerned with an examination of tendencies among individuals or groups to vary in their selection of certain types of responses when the same choice is presented in some other form, the tendencies being termed "response sets." Positional response sets (PRS), to which multiple-choice type items are prone, have reportedly…

The two phases in the development and tryout of a Guidance Counselor Test to be added to the National Teacher Examinations Program are discussed. In Phase One, a 150-item written test and a 50-item written test based on taped stimulus material were produced. Each test consisted of five-choice multiple-choice questions. In Phase Two, the tests were…

Although the "Don't Know" (DK) option has received telling criticism in maximum performance summative tests, its potential use in formative evaluation was considered and judged to be more promising. The pretest of an instructional module was administered with DK options. Examinees were then required to answer each question to which they had…

Medsirch (Medical Search) is an information retrieval system designed to aid in preparing examinations for medical students. There are two versions of the system: a sequential access file suitable for shallow indexing with a broad choice of search terms and a random direct access file for deep indexing with a restricted range of choices for search…

A procedure is described for increasing the reliability of tests after they have been given and for developing shorter but more reliable tests. Eight tests administered to 200 graduate students studying educational research are analyzed. The analysis considers the original tests, the items loading on the first factor of the test, and the items…