The General Accounting Office (GAO), at the request of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education, conducted studies on the extent and cost of testing in the United States, the experience of Canada in testing, and initial efforts to set standards for judging student performance on…

The Ohio Sixth-grade Proficiency Tests are designed to measure a sixth-grade level of literacy and basic competence. Beginning in March 1996, Ohio sixth graders will take proficiency tests in writing, reading, mathematics, citizenship, and science. Both teachers and administrators have been involved in the test development process, establishing…

This study explored fourth-grade teachers' understanding of mathematical problem solving, an aspect of the Vermont portfolio assessment program that has been largely ignored. Teachers' conceptions of problem solving, their knowledge of problem-solving strategies, their selection and evaluation of problem-solving tasks, and their instructional…

The 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) monitored the performance of students in American schools in reading, mathematics, science, and writing. The sample consisted of more than 145,000 public and private school students in grades 4, 8, 11, and 12. This technical report provides details of instrument development, sample…

The work of the Assessment Development Laboratory (ADL) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) in developing an assessment for identifying accomplished teachers of English language arts to young adolescents (aged 11 to 15 years) for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is reviewed. The assessment is meant to…

A review of educational measurement journals indicates that the decade of the 1970s and up until about 1984 was the time when substantial numbers of studies dealt with criterion-referenced measurement, and the era in which criterion-referenced measurement advances were made. Although there appears to be less interest in publications today, a…

The 1992 achievement tests for the Alberta (Canada) public schools show what students in grades 3, 6, and 9 can do in social studies, language arts, and mathematics, respectively. Results are reported in terms of curriculum standards, achievement standards, and assessment standards. In June 1992, there were 41,696 students in grade 3, 37,837 in…

Analyses of the cognitive activity displayed by students on existing innovative assessments in science were conducted. The project has worked with pilot alternative assessment programs in Connecticut and California to document the match or mismatch between the skills and processes that the assessment is designed to tap and those actually elicited.…

The e-rater® system has been used by ETS for automated essay scoring since 1999. This paper describes a new version of e-rater (v.2.0) that differs from the previous one (v.1.3) with regard to the feature set and model building approach. The paper describes the new version, compares the new and previous versions in terms of performance, and…

In the 21st century, the population will need to possess basic skills in the areas of communication and higher problem-solving as well as have scientific and technological literacy; however, results from assessments by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have indicated weak student performance in the area of thinking skills,…

These pretests and posttests are designed for use with the curriculum guides and teaching guide in the Guam Community College English as a Second Language (ESL) project series (see note). Information on scoring and directions for test administrations are provided. A pretest and posttest are included for each of the six levels in the project. For…

THE EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CENTER (ESC) SUPPLIES VARIOUS SERVICES TO 28 SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN CENTRAL, WESTERN, AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. STATISTICAL INFORMATION IS PRESENTED CONCERNING THE VARIETY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THESE SERVICES (CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND GUIDANCE, ADULT EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, SCHOOL EVALUATION…

The manual provides the information required to administer the training program. The first three sections describe: (1) the requirements for and objectives of the tumor registrar training program; (2) the format (incorporating programed instruction and self-scoring practical exercises), student evaluation techniques, and contents of the…

Draper Correctional Center successfully employed programed instruction in a dual project with 1800 youthful prisoners. Diagnostic testing and careful analysis of test results were used to discover individual needs, for which relevant sections of a program were then prescribed. The role of the teacher in this situation was that of learning-manager.…

Central Midwestern Regional Educational Laboratory, Inc. (CEMREL) analyzed educational computer trends in the CEMREL region. Between 1967-68 and 1968-69, there was roughly a 50% increase in electronic data processing (EDP) installations. Computer and remote terminal installations also increased 50%, but the proportion of computers under school…