This report presents the mathematics assessment results from the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The assessment included nearly 250,000 fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students attending approximately 10,000 schools across the nation and the states. Students' performance is categorized into three achievement levels:…

Assessment cannot be considered separately from teaching and learning because assessments are the motivation for both teacher and student. This book explores a new system of assessment, not just modified tests. It describes for people inside and outside the educational community the kinds of assessment frequently mentioned in talk about…

In an effort to determine the validity of placement tests used at Rancho Santiago College (Santa Ana, California), for placing students into mathematics courses, a study was conducted comparing the course performance of students who met test cut-off scores ("eligible" to take the course) with students who did not meet the cut-off scores…

The conceptual framework for the instructionally sensitive assessment that guided the analyses of data from the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) are described. The intellectual rationale for the project effort and the current draft version of the guiding conception of "instructionally sensitive psychometrics" are discussed,…

Analyses for results of a series of studies examining intercorrelations among a set of as many as p+1 variables are presented. Several estimators of a pooled or average correlation vector and its variances are derived for cases in which some studies do not report complete correlation matrices. A test of the homogeneity (consistency) of the…

The issue of test-item selection in support of decision making in adaptive testing is considered. The number of items needed to make a decision is compared for two approaches: selecting items from an item pool that are most informative at the decision point or selecting items that are most informative at the examinee's ability level. The first…

This book supports constructive discussion about assessment and provides concrete directions for change. The 10 chapters outline many of the difficulties associated with current standardized testing. While most educators refer to the new non-standardized test efforts as alternative assessments, this type of assessment is increasingly being called…

This bulletin is intended to provide a brief summary of the California Assessment Program (CAP) testing results for the 1986-87 school year. General comments regarding testing in San Diego (California), commonly asked questions, and school- and district-level results are provided. Tabulated results cover mean scale scores for grades 3, 6, and 8…

The attitudes and self-beliefs revealed in science education can affect students' achievements. Several studies have found that students' self-beliefs are significantly associated with achievement outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between their attitudes and self-beliefs and science achievements based on TIMSS…

A study involving 716 male and 1,113 female first-year students admitted to the University of Delaware in the fall of 1985 was conducted to investigate the differential performance of men and women on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Data collected included SAT math scores; gender; and number of years of high school…

This study tests several explanations for discrepant results in an earlier study (Cook et al., 1985) which presented a partial pre-calibration method for equating new editions of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) to the same scale as older editions. In contrast to full pre-calibration, which seeks to equate all items from two or more editions,…

The history of test coaching has shown that positive benefits can be produced from short-term orientation, practice, and drill. Coaching on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has been especially scrutinized for efficacy and has shown modest program effects, despite the limited scope and duration of such programs. The present investigation expands…

Basic skills tests in which measurement of growth is defined in the context of national norms are discussed. An integral part of the construction of norms is the production of a trait or ability score which is normed. Test publishers define a multidimensional trait by including items which measure it. The trait as a construct is a distinct…

A procedure for the detection of differential item performance (DIP) is used to investigate the relationships between characteristics of mathematics achievement items and gender differences in performance. Eight randomly equivalent samples of high school seniors were each given a unique form of the ACT Assessment Mathematics Usage Test (ACTM).…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) collected data on the mathematics performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year old Americans in 1973, 1978, and 1982. An additional assessment in grades 3, 7, and 11 is planned for 1986. Educational objectives to be used in the 1986 assessment were contributed, reviewed, and revised by a committee of…