Seven formats of educational testing were compared for student test preferences and how well each evaluated learning. The formats were: (1) true/false; (2) multiple choice; (3) matching; (4) MDT Multiple Digit Testing, in which a machine scores fill-in-the-blanks; (5) fill-in-the-blanks; (6) short answers; and (7) essay. A total of 1,440 survey…

Gender differences in achievement test performance at the college level were studied as part of the initial analysis of the recently developed Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP)--an achievement test battery for use in higher education. The CAAP was pilot tested in fall 1988 and includes a measure of writing proficiency and four…

This study examined and refined a mathematics skills instrument used to predict success in an introductory statistics course and to measure improvement in mathematics skills. Alternate forms of a 28-item true-false test were administered as a pretest and posttest to 18 undergraduate and 19 graduate students enrolled in introductory educational…

The basic rationale for using standardized tests for college admission, credit, and placement is that they are relevant and reliable. Such tests require the student to demonstrate the kind of competence that schools teach--the kind of competence required to work effectively in the modern world, to develop fully the human potential, and to enjoy…

This paper investigates the influences of traditional kinds of verbal and quantitative achievement and aptitude variables on high school foreign language achievement, as measured by Modern Language Association and University of Washington tests of language skills administered to entering college students. The report focuses on: (1) the sample and…

Instructional improvement within the context of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests is described. Such categories overemphasize test interpretation rather than design characteristics of achievement tests. Data from most measurement situations may be reported or interpreted either according to criterion- or norm-referenced standards. How…

This is the first revision of this collection for students in grades kindergarten through high school. The Listening section contains 31 objectives with one or more evaluation items in the following major categories: (1) Affective Listening, (2) Comprehension and Interpretation, and (3) Analytical Listening and Critical Listening. Oral Expression…

Schools and educators are being called to task so that students will be able to achieve academically and gain basic skills. While few people argue with the need for gradual, reasonable, and proven changes in curricula, the massive infusion of innovative curricula and teaching methods often intended to maximize affective learning may have had a…

Describes a study into what happens when academics who learned English for Special Purposes broadened their goals and attempted reading geared to those with a knowledge of "general" English. Results showed that participant comprehension increased significantly, but reading speed did not consistently increase. (Author/SED)

A survey designed to investigate the causes of declining levels of student achievement indicated that (1) there has been an over-use of objective testing, (2) grade inflation is a serious problem, and (3) community colleges may have over-emphasized accommodation of unprepared students and under-emphasized cognitive learning. Recommendations to…

Describes efforts to design a method of assessing community college students' entry-level writing skills, which compared the predictive validity of three methods of evaluating writing skills: writing samples, objective tests, and self-assessments. Results of these scores were correlated with students' success in writing courses. (CAM)

The validity of several criticisms of objective tests is addressed, and the viability of some alternatives to objective testing is discussed. Evidence against multiple-choice tests is not as strong as has been claimed. Authentic assessments may not always be better, and research about new forms of assessment is necessary. (SLD)

This study investigated the technical adequacy of 7 objective indexes of writing quality in monitoring the progress of 36 middle school students with mild disabilities over a 6-month period. Three indexes (such as "percent of legible words") were moderately correlated with holistic ratings but were not sufficiently stable over time. (Author/JDD)

This study was designed to find out if students taught food and nutrition concepts using the lecture method and practical work would perform significantly better than their counterparts taught with the lecture and teacher demonstrations and the lecture method only. The sample comprised 114 Jamaican 10th-graders (56 boys, 58 girls) selected from…

The "Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems" of the National Forum on Assessment, 1995, proposes a view of testing and assessment in elementary and secondary education that challenges the basic concepts and practices underlying the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" of the American…