Addressing issues facing vocational education on the topic of performance testing, this handbook consists of a collection of seventeen commissioned papers and reactions to the papers. Two papers are presented on each of the following types of issues that must be considered before a performance test can be constructed: philosophical, technical,…

A DISCUSSION OF TEST VARIABLES AND THE TESTING PROGRAM OF THE PROJECT WAS INITIALLY PRESENTED IN THIS DOCUMENT. CAUTION WAS PARTICULARLY EMPHASIZED IN THE INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS USING STANDARD ACHIEVEMENT TESTS WITH SUBJECTS FROM THE MODESTO MULTI OCCUPATIONAL PROJECT. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED PROGRAM EVALUATION INCLUDED ADDITIONAL…

THE QUESTIONNAIRE CONTAINS 72 ITEMS DESIGNED TO ASSESS THE VALUE POSITIONS OF INDIVIDUALS ON NINE DIMENSIONS. THESE DIMENSIONS REPRESENT VALUE PROBLEMS OF RELEVANCE TO THE TOTAL AMERICAN SOCIETY AND OF PARTICULAR CONCERN TO PERSONS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL WORK AND RELATED FIELDS OF GENERAL SOCIAL WELFARE. VALUE POSITIONS, AND QUITE OFTEN VALUE…

THE PURPOSES OF A DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM IN HEALTH OCCUPATIONS WERE TO SET UP AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO DETERMINE SPECIFIC OCCUPATIONS TO BE GIVEN PRIORITY FOR TRAINING, TO CONDUCT A TESTING PROGRAM AMONG CURRENT WORKERS IN THE HEALTH OCCUPATIONS, AND TO CONDUCT A RECRUITMENT PROGRAM. THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED THAT AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM BE…

This manual is designed to assist personnel involved in work with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Follow Through Evaluation testing program. Follow Through is a number of planned education programs for children in kindergarten and primary grades (1-3). Job descriptions for each person working in the testing program are included. In addition,…

Teacher dissatisfaction with the existing math testing program in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) led to the establishment of the Committee on Citywide Mathematics Testing. The committee was formed to identify tests to be used, grade levels to be tested, and testing schedules. The committee recommended that tests be given in the spring…

Guidelines are presented for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City-Wide Testing Program. They involve the preparation of pupils for the Administration of the tests, preparation of teachers for administering the tests, some acceptable and unacceptable practices, use and dissemination of test results, and security concerns related to the testing…

The implementation of a district-wide testing program requires careful consideration of credibility issues. These issues have been frequently overlooked or treated casually by test developers and users alike. It is well enough to study the reliability and validity issues involved when selecting instrumentation. It is also necessary to identify…

A pretest-posttest design for measuring the effects of educational programs uses comparison groups consisting of pupils like those in the treatment group but not getting that particular treatment. Although the design is geared primarily to evaluation of Title I programs in large cities, it should also apply to other situations. The plan for…

College populations may differ greatly, not only in terms of traditional academic variables such as high school grades and test performances, but also in terms of student interests, values, educational aspirations, occupational plans, and socio-economic background. The recognition of biographic variables as potential predictors of academic success…

Instruments and methods are considered by many the nuts and bolts of school testing programs, for both individuals and groups. Too often, the individual is lost in the machinery of such a school program, and data collected becomes the end product of appraisal and assessment. Programs of student appraisal procedures should be developed around eight…

In reviewing the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) testing procedures, the author notes that the assessment of student achievement and the planning of individualized instructional sequences involve valid and reliable measurement of many of the relevant characteristics of the learner. He criticizes the placement testing procedure as…

The testing sub-program is designed to provide the diagnostic instruments necessary to measure pupil progress through the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) curricula. Its objectives are to provide information about pupils which teachers can use to direct each child's individual learning program, to provide the measurements necessary for…

Although emphatically not against the concept of educational accountability, the National Education Association (NEA) feels that a redirection is needed in the implementation of such a system. Because of error, especially in testing minority and poor children, accountability programs should never use test results as the major source of data but…

In addition to some general and basic principles regarding the importance of an acceptable accountability system, a number of specific criteria for evaluating state accountability programs is provided. The stated purposes of such a system and the specific uses of the resulting data should be clear and concise. Local control must be retained and…