The Associates Program of the Institute for Educational Leadership is a network of educational policy-makers in over 30 states. Each state's Associate conducts several seminars each year for the benefit of the state's key policy-makers. In 1977 these Associates (then numbering 23) and the participants in their seminars responded to questionnaires…

The authors argue that personnel who select standardized achievement tests have been led to believe that the major achievement test batteries differ very little in terms of the topics they test; but that the content covered by these major tests is different, and that such differences have consequences for instructional content. To test this…

The study investigated the effect of response mode variation (the use or non-use of separate answer sheets) on subject responses (N = 1017) to affective instruments treating both instrument and subject characteristics. Instrument characteristics examined included attitudinal versus personality scale composition, scale items written in first versus…

This teacher's manual describes major ways in which the accompanying Item Bank can be used--that is, for achievement tests, diagnostic tests, the introduction of new topics, stimulus for class discussions, evaluation of curriculum and teaching methods, and as models for constructing multiple-choice questions. Rationale for the use of…

The effects of different choice formats on the reliability of teacher-made tests were examined for high and low achievers. The first study examined the effect of 3 and 5 choice items on the reliability of dichotomously scored teacher-made tests. The second study examined the effect of 3 and 4 choice items on the reliability of similarly designed…

A structured, time-referenced, performance examination was designed as part of the certification procedure for Emergency Medical Technicians-Ambulance in an attempt to increase objectivity and standardization. This examination is based on a model developed by the University of Southern California, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency…

Thirteen alternatives to using competency based tests should be considered when diagnosing student competency in writing: teacher-made or departmental tests, teacher-student conferences, contractual grade agreements between student and teacher, student self-evaluation, individualized goal setting, keeping files or portfolios of student work,…

The Sheffield (Great Britain) Occupational Functional Reading Project was organized to study the functional reading required of 16-year-old school leavers who entered employment or training for a job, and to design instruments for assessing and diagnosing occupational functional reading abilities. The primary task of the project was to develop a…

The aim of this paper is to bring some conceptual synthesis to the deliberations of the conference, "What Do We Know About Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools?". The author begins with an attempt to define the concept of urban education, and continues with an identification of some of the critical issues related to urban life and education in…

Several standard measures of aptitude, interest, attitude, and personality are briefly described, including the General Aptitude Test Battery, the Clerical Skills Tests, other tests sponsored by the United States Employment Service; and the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory. This volume also reviews special assessment techniques for the severely…

The guidelines are designed to aid schools in developing their own curriculum guides and to assist teachers in planning courses, units of work, and daily classroom activities. The emphasis is on objectives designed to produce linguistic competencies and cultural knowledge. Because the primary objective of Latin instruction relates to achievement…

The 1975 Community/Junior College Conference sought to define and describe evaluation, discuss measuring devices, and underscore the ethical reasons for fair evaluation. William P. Gorth began by discussing the purpose of evaluation--to provide data to a specified decision-maker for decision-making--and the implications which could be drawn from…

Many researchers have questioned the validity of the underlying assumptions, the psychometric properties, and conceptualizations for both the older and new measures that generate two independent scores for masculinity and femininity. The assumptions of bipolarity and unidimensionality and the construct validity of existing masculinity/femininity…

This paper grew out of a presentation made as part of a panel discussion on the Bakke case, and is second in a series of Institute for the Study of Educational Policy documents on important educational issues and problems. Many of the factors that impact test performance or scores are examined. The primary thesis of the paper is that it is…

This paper describes functions of a computer system for management of individualized instruction, details of a computer managed instruction (CMI) facility, the role of the teacher in utilizing a CMI system, and five programs which implement the concept of individualization with computer assistance. CMI system functions described include…