Issues concerning the cost and feasibility of using Formulating Hypotheses (FH) test item types for the Graduate Record Examinations have slowed research into their use. This project focused on two major issues that need to be addressed in considering FH items for operational use: the costs of scoring and the assignment of scores along a range of…

The Reflective Judgment Model and associated interview (RJI) (Kitchener and King, 1981) measure the ability of individuals to reason about ill-structured problems. It has gained popularity as a measure of college outcomes associated with postsecondary education. This study examines general claims for the model made from existing data from 15 of 25…

Test-taking skills and methods used to prepare students for taking an examination are independent of knowledge and skills in the content area being tested. Test-taking skills do not give students the correct answers, but do allow the student to concentrate on answering questions without being confused by the mechanics of the test. Students who…

This guide presents scoring criteria, the writing prompt, and sample student papers for the grade 8 end of grade persuasive/argumentative composition statewide writing achievement test. The introductory section presents background information on statewide writing tests in North Carolina, scoring writing samples, and the scoring process. The next…

Scaling is carried out in an effort to increase the comparability of scores obtained on different tests. This study explored the relationships between College Board Achievement Test scores and potential scaling covariates for various subgroups of the test-taking population with the goal of providing several alternatives to traditionally used…

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) were developed to score responses from a previously designed police written communication test that lacked reliability. Rating scales for each of the 9 dimensions of the test consisted of the scale definition and a 5-point continuum, with the scores of 5, 3, and 1 defined by specified behavioral…

A framework for categorizing constructed-response items was developed in which items were ordered on a continuum from multiple-choice to presentation/performance according to the degree of constraint placed on the examinee's response. Two investigations were carried out to evaluate the validity of this framework. In the first investigation, 27…

The New Jersey High School Proficiency Test for grade 11 (HSPT11) replaced a similar requirement for grade 9 and became a graduation requirement in October 1993. As in the past, the writing test consists of a writing sample, which assesses student abilities to write sustained discourse, and a multiple-choice portion that assesses how well students…

The objective of this study was to determine the degree to which recommendations for passing scores, calculated on the basis of a traditional standard-setting methodology, might be affected by the mode (paper versus computer-screen prints) in which test items were presented to standard setting panelists. Results were based on the judgments of 31…

The purpose of the Time-Out Parent Inventory (TOPI) is to provide an objective and quantitative assessment of a parent's self-reported use of time-out procedures to manage a child's behavior. The TOPI is intended to be a tool for researchers as well as professionals who help parents and children. The professional asks the parent a series of 12…

This paper addresses the evaluation of the testing of writing of foreign languages and compares two evaluation methods: the analytical method and the holistic method. The analytical method focuses on the mechanics of writing where the writer is measured against a set of empirical standards and a composition is dissected for the critical points.…

This pilot project had four goals: (1) to develop a writing rubric with kindergartners; (2) to have students write to a prompt and record observed behaviors for analysis; (3) to better understand the appropriateness of using a writing rubric with kindergartners; and (4) to form more effective ways for students to be more autonomous in their…

The purpose of this study was to examine rater, domain, and gender influences on the assessed quality of student writing using weighted and unweighted scores. Twenty rates were randomly selected from a group of 87 operational raters contracted to rate essays as part of the 1993 field test of the Georgia High School Writing Test. All of the raters…

A concept-map assessment consists of a task that elicits structured knowledge, a response format, and a scoring system. Variation in tasks, response formats, and scoring systems produce different mapping techniques that may elicit different knowledge representations, posing construct-interpretations challenges. This study examined two mapping…

This paper presents a rubric developed as a continuum for assessing elementary students' science process knowledge. The continuum was designed to capture the growth of an individual student's knowledge of processes that are essential to learning science. The assessment tool is meant to document changes in science processes that are incremental and…