Although a constructivist approach to learning calls into question the adequacy of norm-referenced, multiple-choice tests, these tests will persist into the 21st century. This article describes a classroom-based study that helped collaboratively oriented fifth graders develop problem-solving strategies to select answers to test questions. This…

Kentucky is reintroducing the norm-referenced, multiple-choice test. Students will be given both performance and multiple-choice tests, beginning in spring 1997. Kean believes this multiple-measures approach is a common-sense way to provide the measurement-driven accountability that most states require. Neill deplores multiple-choice testing and…

Explored the relative impact of the test-developer on the performance of test takers using multiple-choice reading comprehension tests that had no specifications. Six passages each with three different sets of multiple-choice items constructed by three groups of individuals were trialled on 335 Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners.…

Alternatives to traditional multiple choice educational assessment methodologies are briefly described, arguments for existence of bias in multiple choice tests are summarized, and the disadvantages of such alternative methods as essay exams are pointed out. (DB)

The devising of sets of multiple-choice questions on a poem or prose passage can be a useful exercise for teachers and students, because it obliges them to confront the question of what a reader must deal with in a text in order to arrive at an understanding of it. (MLW)

Describes a study that measured students' comprehension of a selection of library terms. Protocol analyses were used to examine the reasoning processes employed by subjects. The results show that patrons misunderstand library terms approximately half of the time, and a continuum of solutions is offered. (16 references) (Author/CLB)

Multiple choice items formatted as a question with one of four distractors giving the correct answer are a clearer and more valid way of testing the reading comprehension of foreign learners of English than is the common format in which the testee must complete a sentence stem by choosing one of four distractors. (Author/CB)

Studies the statistical validation of a multiple-choice test designed to assess instructional design competency. Compares test results of instructional design professionals, graduate and nongraduate education students, and graduate and nongraduate noneducation students. Results indicate that the test accurately sorted respondents into their…

Replicates R. P. Leow's 1993 study on the effects of simplification, type of linguistic item, and second/foreign language experience on learners' intake of linguistic items contained in written output. Results on the type of linguistic item underscore the need for research to consider seriously the role of modality while addressing cognitive…

Performance of a common set of test items on an examination in which the order of options for one test form was experimentally manipulated. Results for 759 medical specialty board examinees find that reordering item options results in significant but unpredictable effects on item difficulty. (SLD)

The recommendation that the reliability of multiple-choice tests will be enhanced if the distribution of item difficulties is concentrated at approximately 0.50 is reinforced and extended in this article by viewing the 0/1 item scoring as a dichotomization of an underlying normally distributed ability score. (SLD)

Within the next two decades, calculators will be standard tools in mathematics classrooms. They should be used regularly but carefully in classroom instruction and testing to allow use of realistic data and exploration of mathematical concepts, but not to allow finding the answer without understanding the question. (MSE)

A federal appeals court ruled that judges may not dismiss handicapped-discrimination lawsuits against universities solely on the basis of official university statements that allegedly discriminatory practices are appropriate for the academic programs involved. The decision keeps alive a case in which a dyslexic student could not take a…

Described is an approach that substantially reduces the annotated shortcomings of standard multiple-choice tests presented to lower-division college mathematics and statistics classes. Examples are included from each discipline. (JJK)

The effect of test expectancy on preferred strategy use and test performance on factual and higher-level questions in learning from expository text was studied, using 42 undergraduates who reported their study strategies and completed a multiple-choice test. Test expectancy affected neither preferred strategy use nor test performance. (SLD)