This handbook, in two parts, constitutes a manual prepared by the American Federation of Teachers, for improving teachers' use of standardized tests. Part I outlines basic concepts and issues surrounding standardized testing for teachers, parents and school administrators. The terms norm-referenced tests, criterion referenced tests, minimum…

Census data were used to predict average district scores on standardized achievement tests for grades one, two, three, six, and twelve, in 716 California school districts. The following census variables were used: education, income, college, poverty (families); poverty (children); professional occupations; housing; Spanish surnames; and Black.…

The optimal test length, using predictive validity as a criterion, depends on two major conditions: the appropriate item-difficulty rather than the total number of items, and the method used in scoring the test. These conclusions were reached when responses to a 100-item multi-level test of reading comprehension from 136 non-native speakers of…

The first four chapters of this report primarily provide an extensive, critical review of the literature with regard to selected aspects of the criterion-referenced and mastery testing fields. Major topics treated include: (a) definitions, distinctions, and background, (b) the relevance of classical test theory, (c) validity and procedures for…

This manual for examiners administering the Primary Test of Economic Understanding (PTEU) describes the purpose, development, and validity of the test which is designed to provide a measure of students' growth and a means to assess the effectiveness of existing materials, teaching strategies, and pre-service and in-service economics education…

This brief review explains some alternate scoring procedures to the classical method of summing correct responses. The novel procedures attempt in some way to retrieve and use even the information in the wrong responses. (Author)

This study compares various item option scoring methods with respect to coefficient alpha and a concurrent validity coefficient. The scoring methods under consideration were: (1) formula scoring, (2) a priori scoring, (3) empirical scoring with an internal criterion, and (4) two modifications of formula scoring. The study indicates a clear…

In order to develop tools for use in the selection and vocational-educational guidance of U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen, three empirically-based scales, designed using the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), were developed to predict three criteria: (1) disenrollment for academic reasons, (2) disenrollment for motivational reasons, and (3)…

The effectiveness of the "read-comp" technique in assessing writing ability and the usefulness of a rubric and procedure devised for scoring read-comp samples and essays were evaluated. Subjects were 100 freshman students enrolled in general and remedial English classes in a 6-week summer session at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.…

A student's choice of an answer to a test question is a coarse measure of his knowledge about the subject matter of the question. Much finer measurement might be achieved if the student were asked to estimate, for each possible answer, the probability that it is the correct one. Such a procedure could yield two classes of benefits: (a) students…

A set of tests that might be reasonably used as provisional criterion measures in research on scientific thinking, particularly creative thinking, were developed and an assessment was made of the suitability of these tests as criterion variables from the standpoint of their psychometric properties. The Tests of Scientific Thinking are performance…

This study describes intergroup guessing differences in response to tests and to test-like tasks. It is a composite of seven component inquiries with three substudies in Phase 1 and four in Phase 2. These seven studies cover the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) item-type domain from a number of viewpoints relevant to implicit guessing behavior.…

The purpose of this study was to develop a testing method for the assessment of various types of writing at the elementary school level that would meet acceptable standards for educational measurement instruments as well as standards of utility and feasibility within a given educational system. The study was conducted within the framework of an…

Professional assessment of mental retardation (MR) and learning disabilities (LD) is crucial to the implementation of P.L. 94-142 because it necessarily precedes the employment of trained teachers and because a plan for remediation depends on accurate assessment. Intelligence is a key element in the identification of MR-LD, but competent, fair…

The relative validity of adaptive and conventional testing strategies using non-test variables as one set of external criteria was investigated. A total of 101 college students completed both a variable length stradaptive test and peaked conventional test; a second group of 131 college students completed a variable length Bayesian adaptive test…