This study compares the contribution to measurement accuracy of the verbal score of each of four verbal item types included in the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test. Comparisons are based on item response theory, a methodology that allows the researcher to look at the accuracy of individual points on the score scale. This methodology…

A sample of slightly over 1,500 students drawn from even-numbered grades in public schools of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) were given the 1973 edition of the Stanford Achievement Test (grades 2, 4, 6, and 8) and the Test of Academic Skills (grades 10 and 12) in an attempt to assess student academic achievement in the basic skill areas of…

The effectiveness of an Education Consolidation Improvement Act Chapter 1 program was studied in a large urban school district. A common problem in evaluating remedial programs is that pretest/posttest achievement gains often indicate the effects of the entire curriculum, rather than those specific to the remedial class. In this district, over…

The scientific concept of intelligence has been heavily influenced by the technology of measurement. The variables which can be measured have been made the operational definition of intelligence. This approach differs from a deductive approach, in which a theory of cognition in general is used to derive the sorts of measurements that must be taken…

The process used by the Texas Education Agency to update public school teacher certification tests in a statewide program in Texas is described. The testing program implemented is called the Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas. After a policy review, advisory committees for 63 test areas prepared content frameworks, created…

This study investigated the measurement integrity of the "Heart Smart" cognitive tests. Designed for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, the tests measure health-related knowledge involving physiology, nutrition, exercise, and behavioral skills. The report presents tables of specifications, test floors and ranges, a demographic profile of…

In response to the increasing importance of student performance in required classes, research was conducted to compare two prediction procedures, linear modeling using multiple regression and nonlinear modeling using AID3. Performance in the first college math course (College Mathematics, Calculus, or Business Calculus Matrices) was the dependent…

The effects of the use of computer-enhanced instruction with remedial students were assessed, using 4,293 ninth through twelfth graders--3,308 Black, 957 White, and 28 Other--involved in the Governor's Remediation Initiative (GRI) in Georgia. Data sources included the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), a data collection form developed for…

The 1985 Buros-Nebraska Symposium was devoted to the broad issue of the influence of cognitive psychology on testing and measurement. The (1) "Introduction: The Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Testing" (Royce R. Ronning et. al.) lists four major issues addressed by the symposium--cognitive psychology as a basis for questioning some…

Two separate sets of minimum standards designed to guide the evaluation of bilingual projects are proposed. The first set relates to the process in which the evaluation activities are conducted. They include: validity of assessment procedures, validity and reliability of evaluation instruments, representativeness of findings, use of procedures for…

The goal of the 1981-82 examination of the Evaluation Scale (ES) of the City University of New York's (CUNY) Writing Skills Assessment Test (WSAT) was to ascertain if the descriptive criteria of the original ES, instituted in 1978, might be refined in the light of CUNY's four years of experience with large-scale testing at a multicampus…

A study examined the relationship between types of miscues made by readers during oral reading and the errors made by the same readers on a cloze task. Subjects were 79 third and 78 fifth grade students in eight intact classrooms. Both the oral reading miscues and the cloze replacements were categorized using a modification of Y. Goodman's miscue…

In an effort to examine issues raised by the effort to assess the performance of educational institutions, a project focusing on the social purposes and intellectual foundations of assessment practices in education was initiated. The primary goal of the project was to explore the possibility of developing new, more appropriate educational…

The increasing interest in oral proficiency during the past decade prompted Educational Testing Service (ETS) to undertake the development of the Test of Spoken English (TSE), a standardized test of speaking proficiency of non-native speakers of English. The test has been validated for the selection of non-native teaching assistants applying to…

The purpose of this study was to review and evaluate the Basic Inventory of Natural Language (BINL) to help determine whether it should continue to be used in Honolulu's Students of Limited English Proficiency (SLEP) Program. The study looked at four critical aspects of the BINL: its content validity, its test-retest reliability, its effectiveness…