Whether the shaping of test items can itself result in qualitative differences in examinees' comprehension of reading passages was studied using the Pearson-Johnson item classification system. The specific practice studied incorporated, within an item stem line, references that point the examinee to a specific location within a reading passage.…

DIMTEST is a statistical test procedure for assessing essential unidimensionality of binary test item responses. The test statistic T used for testing the null hypothesis of essential unidimensionality is a nonparametric statistic. That is, there is no particular parametric distribution assumed for the underlying ability distribution or for the…

The study guide is designed for limited-English-proficient immigrants preparing to take the United States history portion of new citizenship test. An introductory section describes the development of the guide and its field testing. The study guide itself is in large type and simplified English, and consists of five chapters, each focusing on a…

Expert systems can be used to aid decisionmaking. A computerized adaptive test is one kind of expert system, although not commonly recognized as such. A new approach, termed EXSPRT, was devised that combines expert systems reasoning and sequential probability ratio test stopping rules. Two versions of EXSPRT were developed, one with random…

This document contains a developmental curriculum plan for an articulated curriculum in automotive mechanics for Connecticut's Mattatuck Community College and area high schools. The curriculum guide includes a course description, criteria for evaluation, attendance policy, objectives, a curriculum outline, a three-part automotive technician test,…

To investigate the psychometric feasibility of replacing a paper-and-pencil licensing examination with a computer-administered test, a validity study was conducted. The computer-administered test (Cadm) was a common set of items for all test takers, distinct from computerized adaptive testing, in which test takers receive items appropriate to…

The comprehension processes of adult students solving two-step problems of comparison were studied using eye-movement experiments based on the assumption that eye fixations are synchronous with internal cognitive processes. Twenty university students each solved 24 two-step mathematical word problems of three sentences each with consistent…

A handbook compiled for use in a one-day workshop on oral proficiency testing for teachers of Russian gives an overview of oral proficiency assessment principles and the available techniques. One section explains the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) Oral Proficiency Interview process and…

The 8th Grade Test (1984) of the Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress includes 22 reading items, 39 geometry items, 41 science items, a 27-item student questionnaire regarding science opinions, and 46 mathematics items. The test booklet only is included here. (PN)

To test the assumption that questions measuring literal comprehension and those measuring inferential comprehension are equally valid indices for both oral and silent reading tests at all skill levels, questions from the Analytic Reading Inventory were classified as either literal or inferential. Subjects, 94 children in grades two to five, read…

The premise of this document is that trade instructors and incumbent workers can work together as a writing team to develop test items for vocational education. The development process used by the Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) is described as follows: (1) identify and validate a task list; (2) conduct task analysis;…

Information concerning the federal regulations governing the basic citizenship skills requirement for immigrant legalization, as amended, is presented. Materials include: (1) a sample memorandum to educational service providers relaying information concerning the requirement; (2) revised requirements and guidelines for courses of study recognized…

The study compares three methods for establishing cut-off scores that effect a compromise between absolute cut-offs based on item difficulty and relative cut-offs based on expected passing rates. Each method coordinates these two types of information differently. The Beuk method obtains judges' estimates of an absolute cut-off and an expected…

Two techniques for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) of test items are compared: (1) item response theory (IRT), using the three-parameter model; and (2) Mantel-Haenszel chi square techniques (MHCS). The steps necessary for identifying differentially functioning items are identified for both approaches. Using data from the 1988…

A study investigated the degree to which scores on content-based tests were influenced by non-content factors such as difficulty with reading, lack of confidence in responding independently to a test, and inexperience with modes of responding to multiple-choice questions. A test compiled from science, math, and social studies material in a primary…