This investigation is concerned with (a) constructing a pupil evaluation of teachers (PET) scale, for use in grades 7-11, incorporating certain areas of teaching behavior, and affective pupil responses to teachers; and (b) using the scale as a source of feedback to both regular and student teachers. (Author)

Reviews techniques of evaluation in mathematics and discusses three testing issues and their implications: objective and subjective methods, behavioral objectives in test construction, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measures. Recommendations on testing practices are also summarized. (HM)

The study describes the implementation of three related suggestions for the development of items for a course evaluation form. High degrees of consistency were evidenced in preferences of students, faculty, and individuals from different academic areas. Significant differences were obtained between student and faculty responses and the basic…

This study found that reliable, accurate, time-saving placement information for English as a Second Language students can be derived from a procedure whereby an open-ended cloze is truncated and remodeled into a multiple-choice format. (Author/POP)

Two studies compared the performance of Puerto Rican and African American Head Start children (total n=134) on familiar (description) and unfamiliar (one word labeling) test tasks. Results indicated children performed better on the familiar test task, which was also more sensitive in differentiating typically developing children from those with…

Rasch methodology, often used in educational research, was used to assess psychometric limitations of a scale designed to measure fear of falling in older persons. Simultaneous calibration of scale items improved its lack of scale definition. Implications for assessment of self-efficacy perceptions and planning treatment programs are discussed.…

This issue presents examinations of educational testing, large-scale alternative assessment, small-scale alternative assessment, and educational measurement. These discussions go beyond technical issues to provide a conceptual perspective and a view of underlying histories, theories, applications, and the uncertainties associated with these…

Describes the development of an English-as-a-Second-Language computer-adaptive test of reading comprehension. The article discusses the constraints that apply to Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) and the advantages of CAT over conventional testing modalities. (29 references) (Author/CK)

Describes the assessment of the revised objectives of an English reading course offered at Kuwait University to foster reading comprehension for academic purposes. Analysis of data obtained from pre- and posttests showed improvement in reading skills although there were differences between students who were Arts and Science majors. (19 references)…

Reviews current and developing technology uses that are relevant to language assessment and discusses examples of recent linguistic applications from the laboratory at the Educational Testing Service. The processes of language test development are described and the functions they serve from the perspective of a large testing organization are…

Investigates how many words of the Dutch language, and which words, an adult nonnative speaker must know receptively in order to understand first-year university reading materials. Assessment of the representativeness of a list of 23,550 words and administration of a 140-item multiple-choice vocabulary test indicated that a minimum of 10,000 base…

Suggests that any model of washback must include insights from the theory of educational innovation to help explain why tests do not always have the desired or feared effect. Key concepts in educational innovation are reviewed, showing how these concepts are manifested in a case study in washback and outlining how they are being applied in recent…

The underlying structure of the Depression scale of the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) was studied using dichotomous Rasch model and factor analysis with the normative sample of 2,600 subjects. Results reveal two distinct subscales (mental depression and physical depression) in place of a homogenous set of items. (SLD)

A short measure of trait and state negative and positive affect, the Chinese Affect Scale, was developed for Chinese-speaking people and tested in Hong Kong with 306 community adults and 314 college students. Scores had reasonable internal and retest reliabilities and high convergent and discriminant validity. (SLD)

Steps are outlined in the development of an academic language proficiency test in Spanish, to measure teacher candidates' language abilities necessary to conduct instruction in Spanish-English bilingual classrooms. Such tests must consider linguistic tasks that bilingual teachers generally perform and communicative skills in academic interaction.…