This paper provides a brief description of the development of the Diagnostic Assessments of Reading with Trial Teaching Strategies (DARTTS) program by F. G. Roswell and J. S. Chall. It also describes the editorial and statistical procedures that were used to validate the program for determining students' strengths and weaknesses in important areas…

Analyses of the cognitive activity displayed by students on existing innovative assessments in science were conducted. The project has worked with pilot alternative assessment programs in Connecticut and California to document the match or mismatch between the skills and processes that the assessment is designed to tap and those actually elicited.…

This paper describes research concerning the nature of basic skills prerequisite to the learning and performance of a single, technical job (31M10, Multichannel Communications Equipment Operator) in the Army, and development of an instructional program to teach the skills. The work involved six phases carried out over a 2-year period: (1) analysis…

This document expands upon the discussion of standardized tests in federal legislation and Department of Education rules and regulations, in order to guide practitioners in using these tests and alternative assessment methods more wisely. Amendments of 1988 that address the uses of standardized tests, the federal regulations that implement the…

Schemes for assessing reading achievement with specific tests have been in use since early in this century. The two driving forces behind the testing movement--scientific objectivity and compulsory education--blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s and continued substantially unchanged through most of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the idea of mastery…

The Efficacy Scale for Creative Productivity (ESCreP) was developed to measure students' convictions that they could be creative producers. Self-efficacy, an individual's estimation of ability to perform a behavior, is based upon performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional or physiological arousal. Three…

The National Commission on Testing and Public Policy is conducting a 3-year policy-oriented investigation of the role of tests, especially standardized, norm-referenced tests, in the allocation of educational, training, and employment opportunities in the United States today. This document reports on the first hearing, which focused on the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of modality-based instruction in test taking skills upon young children's performance on standardized reading tests; (2) the effects of five…

An activity was undertaken to develop written criterion-referenced tests for each of the instructional areas comprising the Fundamentals of Agribusiness and Natural Resources Occupations Program. Designed to be taught at the ninth grade level, the program consists of six major instructional areas: agribusiness management, animal science, plant…

The California Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) Project was undertaken at San Diego Community College to provide effective assessment materials and procedures for placing, measuring the achievement of, and certifying the attainment of competencies by adult students enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) and English as a second language…

This paper briefly describes a number of techniques for evaluating students' achievement in mathematics: (1) checklists and rating scales; (2) standardized tests; (3) criterion referenced tests; (4) anecdotal records; (5) student products, including homework and school assignments; (6) teacher-written tests; (7) conferences with students; (8)…

This monograph contains four position papers and two conference papers from the Systemic Evaluation Project (fiscal year, 1984) on the methodological issues associated with applying a comprehensive information system in a secondary school setting. These papers represent work in progress at a suburban Los Angeles high school field test of systemic…

This fourth in a series of six learning modules on instructional evaluation is designed to give secondary and postsecondary vocational teachers help in devising and administering evaluation devices for assessing student performance in an occupational skills area. The terminal objective for the module is to assess student psychomotor (skills)…

This handbook is designed to assist occupationally skilled individuals to become competent instructors in their field. It covers topics intended to be of interest to new instructors during their first few weeks of teaching. The content is in nine units. Unit 1 presents an overview of the occupational teacher's job and offers some general teaching…

Achievement tests that are maximally sensitive to effective instruction in reading and mathematics for grades 2 and 5 were developed and refined. Important considerations regarding the tests' validity were: its coverage of instructional content (opportunity to learn), and its reactivity to instruction. Student ability must be minimally related to…