Each of the three studies in this report examines a different aspect of the basic question of what the four item types (analogies, antonyms, reading comprehension, and sentence completion) on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) verbal section are measuring and of whether a change in the relative emphasis on the various item types would enhance the…

This Graduate Record Examination (GRE) study assesses: (1) the relative contribution of a vocabulary score (consisting of GRE General Test antonyms and analogies) and a reading comprehension score (consisting of GRE sentence completion and reading comprehension sets) to the prediction of self-reported undergraduate grade point average (GPA); and…

The learning objectives for writing skills contained in this volume are congruent with Texas law. These objectives and the measurement specifications are provided for teachers and test developers involved with the preparation of the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) tests. Beginning with the 1985-86 school year, the TEAMS…

The purposes of this study were to determine if there is a significant difference in postsecondary business student scores and test completion time based on settable test item exposure control interface format, and to determine if there is a significant difference in student scores and test completion time based on settable test item exposure…

Replicating a 1978 study of methods of setting cut-off scores in standardized tests for student placement, the Rasch model was used to estimate ability levels and item difficulty for use in determining the probability of course success. Community college students were administered the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Tests and items were…

This self-paced correspondence course for independent study in electricity was adapted from military curriculum materials for use in vocational education. This basic course is designed to provide the student with some fundamentals of electricity--not with specific job skills. The seven lessons of the course each have a lesson assignment sheet with…

Text, illustrations, and exercises are utilized in a set of five learning modules designed to instruct college faculty and education students in selected instructional development skills, the characteristics of adult learners, and the effects of frequently abused drugs. The first module, "How to Write Structured Response Test Items" by…

A comparative study of item analysis was conducted on the basis of race to determine whether alternative test construction or processing might increase the proportion of black enlisted personnel among those passing various military technical knowledge examinations. The study used data from six specialists at four grade levels and investigated item…

Test items and procedures for administering and scoring individual tests of second and fifth grade reading and mathematics are presented. The major purpose of this individual testing is validation of the group tests which make up the battery of the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study (BTES). Five mathematics tasks, involving a set of blocks, have…

Four factors essential to determining how many items should be constructed or sampled for a set of objectives are examined: (1) importance and type of decisions to be made with the results; (2) importance and emphases assigned to the instructional and behavioral objectives; (3) number of objectives; (4) practical constraints, such as item writing…

The study investigated the effect of response mode variation (the use or non-use of separate answer sheets) on subject responses (N = 1017) to affective instruments treating both instrument and subject characteristics. Instrument characteristics examined included attitudinal versus personality scale composition, scale items written in first versus…

This item bank was compiled by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to help teachers at the secondary school level construct objective tests in mathematics. The multiple-choice items were written by teachers who attended ACER writing workshops. The questions are classified according to their subject content and the cognitive…

This teacher's manual describes major ways in which the accompanying Item Bank can be used--that is, for achievement tests, diagnostic tests, the introduction of new topics, stimulus for class discussions, evaluation of curriculum and teaching methods, and as models for constructing multiple-choice questions. Rationale for the use of…

A rationale is presented for the "control items" technique, the technique of using control (nonexperimental) test items to provide a baseline for estimating the effects indicated by scores on the experimental test items. For evaluating the effects of a curriculum, a test can be made of two types of items--ones that test explicit program objectives…

The effects of different choice formats on the reliability of teacher-made tests were examined for high and low achievers. The first study examined the effect of 3 and 5 choice items on the reliability of dichotomously scored teacher-made tests. The second study examined the effect of 3 and 4 choice items on the reliability of similarly designed…