Reports the results of three studies that were designed to discover whether the use or non-use of dictionaries had an effect on students' performance on English as a foreign language reading tests. Results indicate that the use of dictionaries had no significant effect on students' test scores. (SED)

Suggests that continually refined and segmented reading assessment measures may be contributing to reading problems. Discusses three solutions to reading difficulties that have become problems themselves and suggests that more holistic, socially interactive teaching methods are a better solution to reading disabilities. (HTH)

A discussion of the problems inherent in verbal test taxonomies not based on the schematic domain of logic is presented. This discussion is made in the context of syntactically complex tests. A suggested structure for a logically constructed taxonomy developed for use in a federal testing program is delineated. (Author/DWH)

Outlines the main testing needs, problems, and recommendations formulated by Michael Canale and by the four authors who reacted to his paper, "Considerations in the Testing of Reading and Listening Proficiency." Discusses three major and interrelated needs and two key problems found in receptive skills testing and makes recommendations.…

High school students read and were immediately tested on a prose passage, then estimated how well they would score if tested after a delay of 1, 8, or 15 days. Students expected a larger amount of forgetting than actually occurred and failed to predict positive effects of note-taking. (PN)

Concludes that the four reading comprehension tests examined in this study tend to measure general knowledge rather than comprehension skills. (Author/RB)

Some effective tests the teacher can apply to pin-point students' reading abilities in relationship to textbooks and other materials to be used in a course. (HD)

This paper reports the results of an analysis of a reading comprehension test using the Q subscript 3 (Q3) statistics developed by W. Yen (1984). Yen's Q3 can be a useful tool for examining local item dependence in the context of a reading comprehension test in which a set of related items is followed by a reading passage. Q3 is basically a…

This study examined the effects of different test administration conditions on reading comprehension test scores. Evidence of performance differences across district testing conditions might imply that the meanings and interpretations associated with the corresponding test scores have limited generalizability (i.e., knowing how well one reads…

This guide is designed to provide teachers and reading tutors with an easy-to-use and practical guide to selecting and using reading assessment tools that (1) provides descriptions of reading assessments for English and Spanish speaking students that can be used to diagnose and identify their reading skills and abilities; (2) helps teachers find…

This study examined the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) through the use of testlet methods to model its inherent, locally dependent structure. Precision, measured by reliability, and fairness, measured by the comparability of performance across all identified subgroups of examinees, were the focus of the study. The polytomous item response theory…

The main purpose of this study was to examine the structure of score categories in passage-based testlets in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading comprehension test using the nominal response model (NRM). The computer program MULTILOG (D. Thissen, 1991) was used to fit the full and 7 constrained versions of NRM to testlet scores of 1,857…

Whether the internal consistency reliability of a test changes as the quality of the scoring of the test changes was studied with data from reading and mathematics short-answer and extended-response assessments administered in grades 3 to 8 in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. There were about 9,000 students in each grade, with data…

This document contains samples and explanations from Colorado's state reading and writing comprehension test for Grade 7, hereby released to the public (parents, teachers, and any other interested parties). It presents one multiple-choice reading comprehension item based upon a poem and includes the correct answers. Next, it presents two short…

Frustrated by the repeated delays in the release of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Charter School Report and knowing that the data were collected in 2003, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) decided to try to unearth the basic NAEP charter school results. Embedded in the questionnaire that was administered to schools…