Standardized tests represent one way of obtaining assessment information. Yet in recent years educators and the public have voiced concerns about an overriding emphasis on tests and test scores. Pressure to "teach to the test" means that not enough time is spent on higher order thinking and literacy skills because minimal competencies…

The development and use of item shells in the construction of a series of standardized tests of reading comprehension at the elementary school level are described. An item shell is an item that is devoid of specific content, but contains key words and a distinctive syntactic structure. The specific content of the item shell varies depending on the…

Intended for school psychologists, the guidelines suggest ways of intervening with troubled readers. An initial chapter notes the size of the problem and asserts that school psychologists have some training to work with troubled readers. Chapter 2 reviews the reading process, addressing such aspects as the interaction of text, reader, and content…

Using 660 elementary school students from six school districts as subjects, a study examined student performance in reading aloud from four different reading curricula (Houghton Mifflin; Ginn 720; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; and Scott, Foresman), and the sensitivity of scores within each curriculum to growth across grade levels. Three different…

A study measured student awareness of a variety of reading and study skill elements: author attitude and bias, signal words, vocabulary, organizing to read, notetaking, mental imagery, and reading flexibility. It also established a reliability coefficient for the Survey of Study-Reading Habits instrument, a 15-item, 4-point Likert type scale…

This bulletin presents a description of the general education subtests of the Florida Teacher Certification Examination. Information is provided on: (1) competencies and skills tested in the reading subtest; (2) general subtest and item specifications of the writing tests--methods used in evaluating writing ability and rating rationales for…

A study was conducted to investigate reading comprehension and educationally related variables--such as years of education, aptitude score, high school graduation status, and quarter of entry into the service--that describe United States Navy recruits. Data were obtained from computer managed instruction (CMI) reports issued quarterly, on…

A study was conducted to determine whether informal group assessment instruments could be used effectively to provide the same type of reading achievement information as that secured from informal individual instruments. The researchers developed group instruments comparable to individual instruments, including a group reading inventory for grades…

As an exchange professor the author gives his impression of German courses in the American college and proposes a methodology which he considers would be more fruitful. (Text is in German.) (TL)

The altercue continuum is a theoretical arrangement of oral reading responses which deviate from the expected responses, arranged according to their relationship to reading comprehension. Elements from miscue research, including phoneme-grapheme correspondence, serve as principles for organizing altercue types according to comprehension. Semantic…

Twelve tests of reading and math at the elementary level are classified according to a model which makes a distinction between criterion and domain tests. Score reporting and item analysis techniques are discussed. It is argued that most objectives-referenced tests do not specify their domains sufficiently to make interpretations more general than…

The reading development activities contained in this guide were created to assist vocational and prevocational teachers in working with students who are reading below their grade level. The activities were developed and used by practicing teachers in West Virginia during a summer institute and fall practicum. The reading activities use vocational…

In the Netherlands, explicit beginning reading instruction usually starts in grade one. The children learn grapheme-phoneme correspondences, blending, and phonemic analysis. However, some children experience difficulties in beginning reading that the existing educational procedures are not adequate to resolve. One possible solution being…

The Program Analysis and Monitoring in Reading (PAM) package helps teachers and administrators anlayze, understand, and improve school reading programs by providing them with monitor reports and program reports. Both types of reports include results of student performance on tests of reading comprehension--the monitor report provides detailed…

To examine the influence of test wiseness and motivation on Title I students' performance in group standardized tests, the effects of training students and teachers in testing skills and reinforcing student testing behavior were investigated during the administration of the Stanford Achievement Test, Level II, to 597 students. Students were…