Measurement problems which jeopardize the reliability and validity of competency-based writing assessments are analyzed. Methods to stabilize rating criteria and readers' application of them are necessary. Most writing assessment programs use guidelines from norm-referenced test methodology. Use of this method of criteria application based on…

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to discuss the variety of factors which should be considered in establishing a testing program; and (2) to summarize some of the basic features of testing programs in Wisconsin public school districts. An effective district-wide testing program should consist of at least the following seven elements:…

In the past, several latent structure models have been proposed for handling problems associated with measuring the achievement of examinees. Typically, however, these models describe a specific examinee in terms of an item domain or they describe a few items in terms of a population of examinees. In this paper, a model is proposed which allows a…

One of the recurrent themes of the psychometric literature has been the idea that the incorrect responses a person makes to test items contain information that might be useful in determining the person's position on the variable the items are intended to define. The "Partial Credit" model, a member of the family of latent trait models…

Features of a probabilistic testing system that has been implemented on the "cerl" PLATO computer system are described. The key feature of the system is the manner in which an examinee responds to each test item; the examinee distributes probabilities among the alternatives of each item by positioning a small square on or within an…

Some general questions about minimum competency tests are discussed, and various methods of setting standards are reviewed with major attention devoted to those methods used for dichotomizing a continuum. Methods reviewed under the heading of Absolute Judgments of Test Content include Nedelsky's, Angoff's, Ebel's, and Jaeger's. These methods are…

Verbal responses to several tests of originality were subjectively rated for originality. The ratings were compared with the statistical frequency of these responses in two samples of test takers, 150 elementary school children and 60 college students. The elementary school children were administered three measures from the Wallach and Kogar test…

A comparison of the relative efficiency of grading systems can be based on three criteria: accuracy, familiarity, and simplicity. It is suggested that a letter grade system should replace the numerical system in India. In terms of the "accuracy" criteria, the numerical marking system provides a very inaccurate measurement of academic…

Scores on the four subtests of the old Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and the six subtests of the new edition (1978) were factor analyzed. Scores were derived from similar groups of applicants. Two-factors, verbal-general information and science-quantitative, known from previous factorial studies of the old MCAT, emerged again. Five of the…

A review of the literature concerning the relative breadths of masculine and feminine sex-role standards in our culture suggested the hypothesis that the addition of neutral items to the IT Scale for Children (a projective measure of sex-role preference) would have a greater effect on boys' scores than girls' scores. Sixteen neutral items were…

THIS PUBLICATION OF THE COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION (CSPA) EXPLAINS THE BASIC PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE WRITING, PUBLISHING, AND MANAGEMENT OF A STUDENT MAGAZINE. IT CONTAINS SECTIONS ON EDITING AND MAKE-UP, CONTENT (LITERARY, EDITORIAL, AND FEATURE MATERIAL), SCHOOL ACTIVITIES, AND ADVERTISING. AN EXPLANATION OF MAGAZINE RATINGS AND THE…

This document enables the would be evaluator to witness the evolution of an evaluation form through successive stages of development. Each stage of development is documented by examples and explanations. The subjects of the discussion are: participants' evaluation of inservice teacher workshops, observers' evaluation of participants at the…

Weighting test scores by appropriateness of confidence, has almost without exception raised the reliability of test scores. Greater gains appear to occur for the less reliable tests, but that is at least partly because the more reliable a test is to begin with, the more difficult it is to improve it. If confidence-testing allows us to weight…