This book offers specific how-to advice to college faculty on every stage of the testing process, including planning the test and classifying objectives to be measured, ensuring the validity and reliability of the test, and grading in such a way as to arrive at fair grades based on relevant data. The book examines the strengths and weaknesses of…

Minimum competency cut-off scores on a statistics exam were estimated under four conditions: the Angoff judging method with item data (n=20), and without data available (n=19); and the Modified Angoff method with (n=19), and without (n=19) item data available to judges. The Angoff method required free response percentage estimates (0-100) percent,…

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the cognitive processes of Montagnais Indians under conditions that would reduce bias and allow for a contextual interpretation of the results. Fifty-eight Montagnais children were compared to French-Canadians of the same age and grade groups whose data had been collected through previous…

The purpose of the present investigation was to develop a construct validity approach for testing whether the separation of positive and negative item subscales is substantively meaningful in self-concept research. Results from three published studies using the Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ) III were reanalyzed. The SDQ III measures 13…

Recent experience with the Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) has raised a number of concerns about its practical applications. The concerns are principally involved with the concept of having the computer construct the test from a precalibrated item pool, and substituting statistical characteristics for the test developer's skills. Problems with…

The goal of test item writing is to create measures of the true achievement dimensions desired, not extraneous abilities or related skills. To encourage university instructors to apply newer test item writing technologies to test construction for course examinations, this paper: (1) sets forth basic principles for quality item writing; (2) reviews…

Describes the development of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Details revisions in the MMPI and then evaluates positive and negative features of these revisions in the light of construct validity and professional practice. Argues that many suggested refinements to the instrument are being actively investigated by its…

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and degree of differences in expert versus novice knowledge structures, both before and after training, when judging the similarity of multiple-choice test items within a statistics and test theory (STT) domain. Subjects were employees of the Testing Division of the New York State Department of…

A study examined how pragmatic form influences evaluation of student essays in university placement testing. Specifically, the study documented how patterns in students' use of information (assumed to be either old, inferable, or new for readers) affected the holistic scores for quality given to the essays. Subjects, 99 randomly selected entering…

To determine whether students enrolled in one Ontario region's early French immersion (FI) programs developed English reading skills comparable to their non-FI peers, a monitoring process was begun in the first FI program year (grade 3) in which formal English instruction is given. The FI cohort and a control group matched for mental abilities and…

This report contains the Proceedings of the 1982 Item Response Theory and Computerized Adaptive Testing Conference. The papers and their discussions are organized into eight sessions: (1) "Developments in Latent Trait Theory," with papers by Fumiko Samejima and Michael V. Levine; (2) "Parameter Estimation," with papers by…

Intended for teachers, this collection of articles on testing in the English language arts contains the following titles: "What Do Test Scores 'Really' Mean in Educational Policy?" by George F. Madaus; "Testing and Literacy: A Contradiction in Terms?" by Marilyn Wilson; "Throwing in the TOWL," by Mary Jane Curry; "Taking the Authority Figure Out…

The feasibility of criterion referenced testing is held to be dependent on the tenability of two postulates: (1) that bias can be controlled in a principled manner from one test to the next; and (2) that one mental process measured by such tests may lawfully interact with another. Without the first postulate, criterion scores could not be…

The existence of criterion-referenced (CR) measurement is questioned in this paper. Despite beliefs that differences exist between two alternative forms of measurement, CR and Norm Referenced (NR), an analysis of philosophical and psychological descriptions of measurement, as well as a growing number of empirical studies, reveal that the common…

This paper presents the results of a search for an appropriate test of critical thinking to screen college freshmen. The search for an appropriate test of critical thinking was initiated in the Fall 1995 semester at an open-admissions comprehensive university, which normally assigns entering freshmen with ACT composite scores of 17 or less to…