In 1990, a study was conducted at Rio Hondo College (Whittier, California) to determine if readers exhibited any bias in scoring test papers that were composed on a word processor as opposed to being written by hand. The study began with the formulation of tentative pilot study questions and the development of procedures to address them. Three…

The testing of 32,000 students in Australia and New Zealand participating in The Australian Language Certificates (ALC) provided the opportunity to examine students' attitude and learning preferences when studying a language other than English. The ALC offered the opportunity to learn seven languages in a Languages Other Than English (LOTE)…

The National Council for the Social Studies is concerned with how the social studies teaching profession can enhance learning in history and the social sciences and develop the skills necessary for participatory citizenship. The purpose of this position statement is to demonstrate how testing and evaluating social studies students can contribute…

Although the standard-setting method of W. H. Angoff (1971) has broad-based support in the research literature, inconsistencies in the resulting standards do occur. Sources of these inconsistencies are examined in a study of judges, competencies (items), rounds (replications), and the interactions among them. A modified Angoff approach was used to…

The purpose of this study was to compare the reliabilities of two-, three-, four-, and five-choice tests using an incremental option paradigm. Test forms were created incrementally, a method approximating actual test construction procedures. Participants were 154 12th-grade students from the Portland (Oregon) area. A 45-item test with two options…

The attractiveness of some European education policies and the current push toward national standards of academic achievement have converged recently in proposals for national educational testing in the United States. This paper examines the origins and status of student examination policies in 12 countries of the European Community. A major…

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Extraversion-Introversion scale was compared with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 0 scale (Social Introversion) for 18 male and 66 female adult students in introductory courses in psychology, aged 17 to 83 years. A status survey design was used with a priori and post hoc groupings.…

Psychopathology in outpatient children was explored using two classification systems. Clinically derived Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition, Revised) (DSM-III R) diagnoses in three high frequency diagnostic groups were compared to empirically derived Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores for an overall sample of…

Commemorating the work of Anne Cleary, the author considers the need for research on assessment in the practice context, provides an example of research in context, and proposes general areas of development for assessment research in the context of practice. Research has shown that effects of testing programs on practice are often not those that…

Findings of a study that sought to determine teachers' and principals' perceptions concerning state-mandated testing are presented in this paper. Data were gathered through interviews with 30 fifth- and sixth-grade teachers and 12 principals in 3 states--Tennessee, Illinois, and New York--where statewide testing has been implemented for 30 years,…

Equivalence in reliability and validity across 4-point and 6-point scales was assessed by fitting different measurement models through confirmatory factor analysis of a multitrait-multimethod covariance matrix. Responses to nine Likert-type items designed to measure perceived quantitative ability, self-perceived usefulness of quantitative…

The fifth-grade and eighth-grade science items on a state performance assessment were compared for differential item functioning (DIF) due to gender. The grade 5 sample consisted of 8,539 females and 8,029 males and the grade 8 sample consisted of 7,477 females and 7,891 males. A total of 30 fifth grade items and 26 eighth grade items were…

With the assistance of learning technology consultants in the Technology Teaching and Learning Center (TTLC) at the University of Houston-Downtown (Texas), professors have shifted their paradigms and are taking the leap to use more high-risk World Wide Web technologies in their courses. One that has become a hallmark is delivering exams via the…

This report describes an intervention to aid students in demonstrating their comprehension of reading material through an alternative instrument. The target population consisted of fifth grade students in a middle class community in central Illinois. Problems in comprehension were revealed through declining district test scores and teacher…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on measurement and research tools for human resource development (HRD). "The 'Best Fit' Training: Measure Employee Learning Style Strengths" (Daniel L. Parry) discusses a study of the physiological aspect of sensory intake known as modality, more specifically, modality as measured by…