As part of a series of annual evaluations of the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes of Massachusetts public-school students, this report represents the assessment of basic skills attainment of grade 12 students. The first three chapters contain a summary of the design and methodology of the testing program. The remaining five chapters…

This manual is designed to accompany reports prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the 505 school districts in that state, summarizing results of the Educational Quality Assessment. The normative sample is described as being stratified on two dimensions: district enrollment and wealth. Administrative procedures are summarized.…

In previous studies of ethnic group bias in intelligence test items, the question of bias has been confounded with ability differences between the ethnic group samples compared. The present study is based on a conditional probability model in which an unbiased item is defined as one where the probability of a correct response to an item is the…

TAILOR is a computer program that uses the implied orders concept as the basis for computerized adaptive testing. The basic characteristics of TAILOR, which does not involve pretesting, are reviewed here and two studies of it are reported. One is a Monte Carlo simulation based on the four-parameter Birnbaum model and the other uses a matrix of…

Distractors, the incorrect responses to an item on a multiple-choice test, should be designed to create confusion in the minds of some students and to permit a competent student to be able to see that they are wrong. It is possible, by close scrutiny, to isolate the sources of this confusion and, by looking at a statistical analysis, to find out…

Multiple-choice standardized achievement tests of English vocabulary and reading comprehension and of mathematics were administered to samples of 592 grade eight students and 615 grade five students. Two forms of each test unit were prepared. The control groups took forms containing items with four responses, while the experimental groups took…

Intended as a comprehensive introduction to the construction and use of foreign language tests, this book utilizes modern linguistic knowledge as a base for scientific language testing. Major attention in testing is focused on such integrated language skills as auditory and reading comprehension, speaking, writing, translation, and over-all…

The Vocational and Occupational Interest Choice Examination (VOICE) was designed to measure the interests of enlisted men entering the Air Force. Items forming the inventory were primarily generated by examining job analysis in relation to the airman classification structure. The purpose of this effort was to develop and validate a prototype of an…

The feasibility and the cost-effectiveness of using confidence testing as a diagnostic aid in technical training programs were studied. Two types of confidence testing, Pick-One and Distribute 100 Points, were developed for comparison to conventional multiple-choice testing. The criteria for feasibility included end of block examination grades,…

Technical improvements, which may be made in the reliability and validity of tests through confidence scores, are discussed. However, studies indicate that subjects do not handle their confidence uniformly. (MS)

This paper contains in-depth explanations of the 58 scoring categories used in evaluating performance on an "in-basket" situational test for management trainees. A sample scoring sheet, respondent rating scale, and a list of possible responses are included. (DLG)

This research investigated the use of the Rasch simple logistic model in item and test calibration. Tests employing word, picture, symbol, and number analogies were administered to college students, high school students, civil service clerical employees, and clients of the Minnesota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. The results suggest that…

This paper highlights some special characteristics of criterion-referenced tests while comparing them with norm-referenced tests. Psychometric considerations involved in constructing a criterion-referenced test, including item analysis, reliability, and validity, are discussed, along with application of criterion-referenced testing to individual…

Outlines a method to write multiple (four) versions of each examination. Reviews some advantages and disadvantages of multiple-choice and open-ended problems. Considers the writing and grading techniques used. Reports that the examination met the consistency requirement and received a good evaluation from students. (YP)

Explored relationships between 137 grade-8 cognitive items used in the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress and selected themes from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'"Standards." About half the items related to four "Standards" themes, with most of those being related to problem solving and reasoning.…