A brief overview is presented of the current status of mandatory testing in the United States, and of some of the problems involved. While the testing of teacher candidates is generally approved, both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association oppose the testing of veteran teachers. It is suggested that leadership…

When the Mesa, Arizona Public Schools initiated an ambitious writing instruction program in 1978, two assessments based on student writing samples were developed. The first is based on a ninth grade proficiency test. If the student does not pass the test, high school remediation is provided. After 1987, students must pass this test in order to…

This paper dealt with the use of classroom observation data for formative evaluation purposes, and with a research project in which scores based on observed performance of teachers in secondary school algebra and English classes were compared with efficiency scores based on an input-output model. The model, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)…

A study of the stability of teacher behavior over time was formulated through two major questions: (1) Is the behavior of an individual teacher consistent over time? and (2) Are individual differences among teachers consistent over time? Regrettably, the first question has rarely been considered in previous investigations of the stability of…

The purpose of this paper is to document existing research on the test performance of handicapped people with respect to admissions and other similar tests. In addition, the psychometric characteristics of these tests when used with handicapped people are reported. Though much more data needs to be collected, several observations are made.…

This paper, as an illustration of the procedures involved in a cooperative effort, describes a project in which the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) designed and developed a minimum standards test in collaboration with a large urban school district in California. The activity described focuses on the writing sample included in the test. The…

The paper reviews the ways in which the cloze testing procedure measures the reading comprehension skills of students in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The construction and scoring of the test and the interpretation of the scores are discussed and the reliability and validity of the cloze procedure for testing reading skills…

A pilot essay was included in the 1985 Spring and Fall administrations of the Medical College Admission Test. A sample of 320 of the essays written by Fall examinees who had expressed an interest in allopathic medicine was used to calculate interrater reliability estimates. Sixteen of 20 readers who had been trained by White's suggestions for…

This study was designed to investigate the empirical consequences of building tests for which the size of the difference in average scores between Black and White examinees is made to be as large and as small as possible within certain constraints. Test forms for two item types were developed that maximized or minimized the differences in average…

First-, second-, and third-year students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology class at Texas A&M University in College Station were administered either a pencil-and-paper or computerized version of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. The same or other version of the test was administered after 2 weeks. Focus is on equivalence…

To determine if there is a distinction between the forensics community's idea of quality and that of the general population, tournament rankings of forensics judges and those of a lay audience were compared. Undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of speech related courses were asked to attend rounds of competition at a midwest collegiate…

The sources of variability in the Angoff standard-setting procedure, when applied to the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE), were examined. The sources of variability examined are judges, rounds (replications), competencies (items), and interactions among these three sources. After training, the judges were given a statement of a…

Scores of two groups of White and Hispanic children at 11 age levels from 2.5 years to 12.5 years were assessed. The scores were drawn from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC), an individually administered assessment battery designed to measure intelligence and achievement and intended for minority group assessment. Reliability…

Early screening programs to determine learning problems in preschool children are evaluated. A review of early identification literature indicates considerable difficulty in describing screening results and determining when a screening program accurately identifies those students believed to be "at risk." The authors propose several…

The study of teachers as decision-makers is a recent paradigm in educational research. This decision-making approach considers the teacher as an active professional engaged in various decision-making activities prior to and during instruction. This paper describes a naturalistic research design employed in a recent dissertation that investigated…