As part of a large-scale project to remodel the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), this study examined the predictive validity of a prototype revised SAT, which incorporated many of the important structural changes planned for the test. This prototype was compared to a form of the current SAT with regard to several validity-related issues. Nineteen…

Thirty-three primary teachers were trained in the 1989 Standards for School Mathematics to study the relationship between the implementation of alternative assessment and such variables as: teacher grading orientation, class size, grade level, and student mathematical ability. Teachers were found to use knowledge level items significantly more…

California's College of the Canyons has used the four Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) tests to assess students' abilities in basic and college math since spring 1989. These four reports dated June 1993, July 1993, May 1994, and June 1994 examine the predictive validity of the MDTP tests and the cut scores used to place students. The…

The 46 diagnostic mathematics tests cited in this bibliography are instruments to aid in analyzing students' strengths and weaknesses in various mathematical areas to provide more effective instruction. This document is one in a series of topical bibliographies from the Test Collection (TC) at Educational Testing Service (ETS) containing…

The first Standard Grade courses have been in place in Scotland for almost ten years. This document reports on a study with the following goals: (1) to describe the actual mathematical competencies of pupils gaining grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Standard Grade Mathematics; (2) to describe the competencies shown in school work by pupils failing to…

Precalculus and Discrete Mathematics (PDM) is the sixth and final course in the secondary mathematics curriculum developed by the University of Chicago (Illinois) School Mathematics Project. During the 1989-90 academic year, a formative evaluation of the third field-trial edition of PDM was conducted among a volunteer sample of 9 high schools with…

This paper explores a logistic regression procedure for estimating item parameters in the Rasch model and testing the hypothesis of item parameter invariance across several groups/populations. Rather than using item responses directly, the procedure relies on "pseudo-paired comparisons" (PC) statistics defined over all possible pairs of…

This paper suggests that clear understanding and articulation of explicit instructional objectives combined with the use of a simple table of specifications can significantly improve the quality of teacher-made tests. Topics addressed in these guidelines for the construction of tests by teachers include: instructional objectives, types of tests…

This study is a presentation of findings which indicate the relationship between performance scores on the Remedial Developmental Studies (RDS) mathematics curriculum and grades in a specific college level course in College Algebra for students enrolled at Tennessee Technological University. Results indicated that students who had completed the…

This study investigated the propositions that (1) the expressed preference for formal-deductive style of thinking and mathematics anxiety are negatively correlated; (2) the preferred cognitive style is positively correlated with the respondent's self-assessment of mathematical ability; and (3) those expressing a preference for the analyst style of…

Data from a sample of 2,593 high school seniors (58% female) were used to study the relationship between courses taken and scores on the American College Testing (ACT) English Usage Test, the ACT Mathematics Usage Test, the ACT Social Studies Reading Test, and the ACT Natural Sciences Reading Test. For English and Mathematics, test performance…

Data from three subtests (language, mathematics, and social) scales of the Head Start Measures Battery (HSMB) were analyzed using principal components analysis (PCA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS). The HSMB measures preschool development in language, mathematics, nature and science, perception, reading, and social development. The…

The problem of sex bias in mathematics word problems is discussed, with references to the appropriate literature. Word problems are assessed via cognitive science analysis of word problem solving. It has been suggested that five basic semantic relations are adequate to classify nearly all story problems, namely, change, combine, compare, vary, and…

Between 1980 and 1982, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) collected data on mathematics curricula, teaching practices, and achievement from samples of students, teachers, and schools in 18 countries. This material is a technical supplement describing the…

Through individual interviews with remedial and precalculus university students, five characteristics of the student were identified that influence whether a diagram is used in solving a problem and whether its use is successful. The interviews also suggested a set of subskills that contribute to the overall ability to draw effective diagrams.…