Beginning in 1972, the average Scholastic Aptitude Test Verbal (SAT-V) score for men has been higher than that for women. This study created a detailed history of the content of SAT-V sections over the last two and a half decades and examined the changes of test content and trends over time in the balance of references to and representations of…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is one part of a comprehensive assessment system that is evolving in the United States. In the view of the NAEP Technical Subgroup for the National Education Goals Panel, the NAEP should be an independent, statistically rigorous longitudinal measure of educational attainment in the essential…

The American College Testing Program is developing a new program, Work Keys, a system to develop and assess employability skills. It consists of four components: (1) a systematic process for profiling job skill requirements; (2) assessments that measure learners' job skill levels; (3) procedures and formats for conveying assessment results so they…

This document contains a brief overview and introduction to the Urban District Assessment Consortium (UDAC), sample performance items with student responses, and sample open-ended items with student responses. The UDAC is a multiyear cooperative effort that is comprised of 11 major urban school districts across the United States and the Center for…

In 1986, the Florida State Legislature passed a law requiring teachers to demonstrate knowledge of their subject areas before being granted teacher certification. The state also provided funding for developing subject area examinations. The generic procedures for developing these examinations are outlined. During the first phase of the project, an…

This digest discusses how well authentic mathematics assessment tests can be expected to meet the needs of mathematics instruction that focuses on conceptual insights and analytical skills. In the new mathematics curriculum, situational lessons or real-life problems attempt to include dimensions of thinking and reasoning, individual or small-group…

A study investigated the usefulness of adopting innovative, student-centered instructional techniques in two traditional but very different cultures, Turkey and Puerto Rico. In each country, the study occurred in a program to train teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). Using a student-centered approach, trainees learned how to prepare…

The instructor's guide and curriculum guide contained in this packet are designed to help teachers provide future automotive technicians with some of the electronic skills they will need to service cars of the future. The instructor's guide is designed to help teachers make certain that each student gets the most benefit possible out of both the…

Using matched pairs of geography questions, a new testing method for machine-scored fill-in-the-blank, multiple-digit testing (MDT) questions was compared to the traditional multiple-choice (MC) style. Data were from 118 matched or parallel test items for 4 tests from 764 college students of geography. The new method produced superior results when…

Scholastic achievement tests and mental ability tests normally consist of a set of multiple choice items, all of which are assumed to measure school-relevant cognitive abilities. The presumption, in a given test situation, is that the answers/solutions to the given tasks represent cognitive capabilities on the part of the examinees. The purpose of…

This document contains 519 criterion-referenced multiple choice and true or false test items for a course in electronics. The test item bank is designed to work with both the Vocational Instructional Management System (VIMS) and the Vocational Administrative Management System (VAMS) in Missouri. The items are grouped into 15 units covering the…

A minimum of two performance objectives have been developed and validated for each competency in the child care and guidance management and services programs of Missouri's Vocational Instructional Management System. These objectives, as well as one criterion-referenced test item per objective are presented in this publication. The 17 resources…

This curriculum guide can be used by secondary and postsecondary agriculture instructors for a semester course in marketing agricultural products or individual units can be incorporated in other courses. The curriculum guide consists of six units of study made up of two to eight lessons each. The units cover the following topics: (1) marketing…

This study describes intergroup guessing differences in response to tests and to test-like tasks. It is a composite of seven component inquiries with three substudies in Phase 1 and four in Phase 2. These seven studies cover the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) item-type domain from a number of viewpoints relevant to implicit guessing behavior.…

The development and field testing of a proficiency test in English as a Second Language for non-native speakers teaching on Guam is reported. The resulting instrument measures four language skills (listening, reading, writing, and speaking). The listening measure uses natural language that might be heard by a classroom teacher. The reading measure…