One question about polytomous items (which yield responses that can be scored as ordered categories) concerns how much information such items yield? Using the generalized partial credit item response theory (IRT) model, polytomous items from the 1991 field test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Assessment were calibrated…

Some fundamental concepts of criterion referenced test (CRT) reliability are highlighted. Emphasis is given to the procedures for determining reliability of scores for individual pupils because this is an area requiring increased awareness by classroom teachers and practitioners. Reliability issues encountered in the evaluation of instructional…

TWO LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF THE EFFECTS OF EARLY READING ON LATER ACHIEVEMENT ARE REPORTED. EARLY READERS ARE CHILDREN WHOSE READING WAS THE PRODUCT OF NONSCHOOLING, WHO IDENTIFIED 18 OUT OF 37 WORDS ON AN ORAL TEST, AND WHO COULD ACHIEVE A RAW SCORE ON THE GATES PRIMARY READING TESTS. THE 1958 STUDY TESTED 49 EARLY READERS OVER A 6-YEAR PERIOD…

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of in-class componential analogy training on 4th, 8th, and 10th graders' performance of verbal analogies. (MT)

Four standardized tests that include paragraph reading subtests to measure reading comprehension are examined: (1) Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener, (2) Durell Analysis of Reading Difficulty, (3) Test of Reading Comprehension, and (4) Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests. (CL)

Analysis of comparisons of subtest scores of 76 students (grades two - six) on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests revealed that, although correlations for the total group were highly significant in both comparisons, a grade level analysis demonstrated wide variability in results. (CL)

Examines the concept of reading comprehension through a review of ways particular authorities have conceptualized it in models of the process and form of testing and assessing. Considers insights from this examination in the light of the business of teaching reading. (NRJ)

Occasionally, differences in test scores seem to indicate that a student performs much better in one reading area than in another when, in reality, the differences may not be statistically significant. The author presents a table in which statistically significant differences between Woodcock test standard scores are identified. (Author)

A study of the reading achievement of sixth-grade students in the Tampa Bay area of Florida shows average and above average students doing better on 1978 standardized reading tests than on tests from the 1950s, while below average students do better on the earlier tests. (PGD)

Reviews and discusses the Test of Reading Comprehension (TORC), which represents an interesting departure from the more conventional tests of reading comprehension. (HOD)

Concludes that while aspects of the reviewed test may be criticized, overall it is a fine observational tool that provides information about what a child knows about print. (FL)

The present study was designed to determine if maze tests constructed over the same passages by different teachers were comparable. In addition, maze test parallel form reliability was investigated. (HOD)

Conducted a regression analysis to assess the contributions of passage and no-passage factors to item variance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test reading comprehension task. Results show that no-passage factors play a larger role than do passage factors, accounting for as much as three-fourths of systematic variance in item difficulty and more than…