Figural response items (FRIs) in science were administered to 347 fourth graders, 365 eighth graders, and 322 twelfth graders. Item and test statistics from parallel FRIs and multiple-choice questions illustrate FRIs' more difficult and more discriminating nature. Relevance of guessing to FRIs and diagnostic value of the item type are highlighted.…

The impact of personalizing mathematical word problems and rewording them for explicitness was tested with 68 second and 59 fifth graders. Second graders benefited from personalization and rewording in combination; fifth graders benefited from personalization, not rewording. Personalization makes problems more motivating and easier to represent…

Discusses the use of videodiscs in school library media centers. Videodisc technology is explained; hardware and software options are described; and media center applications are suggested, including activities for students, lecture aids for media specialists, test item construction, and creation of individualized or small group instruction…

The performance of 254 Israeli twelfth graders on multiple-choice tests with positive or negative item stems was studied. For items requiring low cognitive reasoning, performance does not differ, but, for items requiring high cognitive reasoning, the negative mode is more difficult. Implications for test construction are discussed. (SLD)

The aim of this study was to assess test takers' attitudes and beliefs about an admissions test used extensively in graduate schools of business in the United States, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and the relationships of these attitudes and beliefs to test performance. A set of attitude and belief items was administered by…

During the past decade the relationship of self-regulated learning (SRL) to academic success has been extensively explored but the impact of metacognition in this process has not been thoroughly examined. This study examined the relationship of metacognitive knowledge monitoring (MKM) to classroom performance. Eighty-four undergraduate students in…

This report examines the "Performance Indicators in Primary Schools" (PIPS) test as a reliable and cohesive instrument to assess early literacy and numeracy skills among Indigenous children. The process includes the examination of the reliability of the PIPS test using the Cronbach Alpha and the Split-half method with Pearson's r…

The present study examined whether specific item characteristics, such as mode of acquisition (MoA) of word meanings, make reading comprehension tests particularly difficult for deaf children. Reading comprehension data on nearly 13,000 hearing 7-to-12-year-olds and 253 deaf 7-to-20-year-olds were analyzed, divided across test levels from second…

Presented at the Annual National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores how different item weighting can affect the effective weights, validity coefficents and test reliability of composite scores among test takers.

Assessment is a cornerstone of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA), and development of appropriate assessments for grades 4, 8, and 12 has been a major focus of KERA implementation. This paper explores the development of performance events, portfolio assessments, and open-ended questions, with an emphasis on open-ended questions and…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) has become increasingly common in large-scale testing programs. This paper considers relevant practical issues that are likely to be faced by the developers and managers of a CAT program. The first cluster of issues is that of item pool development and maintenance. It includes such considerations as item pool…

This module, 1 of 10 in the Drafting curriculum guide developed in Missouri, contains 3 units of study that include some or all of the following components: performance objectives, lesson plans, information sheets, transparency masters, handouts, assignment sheets, job sheets, a unit test, and answers to the unit test. Special instructions on…

This guide focuses on use of the North Carolina Vocational Competency Achievement Tracking System (VoCATS)-designated software in the instructional management process. (VoCATS is a competency-based, computer-based instructional management system that allows the collection of data on student performance achievement prior to, during, and following…

This study investigated the appropriateness of Item Response Theory (IRT) models to analyze language test data. In a university second language institute, results of typical versions of tests of French as a Second Language (n=831 examinees) and of English as a Second Language (n=617 examinees) were subjected to non-linear factor analysis in…

The question of the appropriateness of a set of national standards for educational achievement in the United States is extremely complex. One source of the complexities is the diversity of human characteristics, and the distortions that come from racism, sexism, and other forms of chauvinism. The current practice in testing seems to treat validity…