This article describes the placement testing program, the use of microcomputer software for scoring and analyzing test results, and the integration of the computerized test results into a comprehensive microcomputer-based student information system at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). UCI offers placement tests in five academic fields:…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this test contains (1) general instructions, (2) two minor assignments consisting of literature readings about which the student must write a personal response, and (3) a major assignment requiring students to show how the authors they studied in senior…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this test on writing contains general instructions and three sections: (1) a personal response to an aspect of literature, (2) functional writing requiring a written response within a given situation or context, and (3) a response to visual…

Designed to assist school jurisdictions in interpreting their achievement test results, this report describes the achievement testing program in Alberta, Canada, and indicates the conditions for student exemption from testing. It explains the Grade 3 English Language Arts Achievement Test design and development, gives a description of the test…

The Nevada Department of Education implemented a standard setting study of the Pre-Professional Skills Tests. The tests constitute a secure test battery developed by the Educational Testing Service to assess basic proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics via three multiple-choice tests and a written essay test. The Nevada study, in the…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this test contains (1) general instructions; (2) a minor assignment consisting of a literature reading to which the students must write a personal response; and (3) a major assignment requiring students to show how the authors they studied in senior…

Goal-referenced tests and standardized achievement tests were used to assess the basic skill levels for reading, writing, and mathematics of students attending Parkrose Public Schools of Portland (Oregon) during the 1983-84/1985-86 period. Focus is on estimating the instructional program's success, providing a resource for planning and…

Project READ, an alternative language arts program for low-performing elementary students (grades 1 through 8), has been underway for 2 years in the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools. Targeted students include those identified as learning disabled and those who have auditory and/or visual memory problems. This report describes the second-year…

This report describes the North Carolina Annual Testing Programs writing task which was administered in 1985-86. Grade six students were tested on their ability to write a clarification composition; while grade 8 students were evaluated on their skills in writing a persuasive composition. The timed composition (50 minutes) was scored by two…

A small scale research project involving teaching writing skills to slower learning students in three different Scottish schools is the focus of this volume. Chapter 1 discusses the context and nature of the project, while chapter 2 presents teachers' accounts of their professional practices in teaching writing, including their perceptions of…

Gifted students' writing may exhibit stylistic dissonance--a mixture of basic writing features may coexist with features indicative of much higher levels of rhetorical control. A case study of an 11-year-old sixth grade student who attended a freshman composition course at an Arkansas university illustrates this dissonance. The poems and short…

An instructional management system, called Response System with Variable Prescriptions (RSVP), is described in this report as it is used at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC). Following introductory material, the relevance of such a system to current educational issues is explored and the use of computer technology in education is discussed. The…

Nonnative English speaking college students often find themselves in a remedial course along with native speakers of English who are there on the basis of their high school performance. To determine how well the nonnative student can write, the English teacher could give a two-part diagnostic test. The first part of the test would assess the…

This evaluation of writing in the West Hartford CT Public Schools was part of a large evaluation of English/Language Arts. To provide information for program improvement and growth, the evaluation focused on six issues: (1) the extent of implementation of West Hartford's Composition Program; (2) how teachers use the Composition Program in their…

This paper reports on Educational Testing Service research studies investigating the parameters critical to reliability and validity in both the direct and indirect writing ability assessment of higher education applicants. The studies involved: (1) formulating an operational definition of writing competence; (2) designing and pretesting writing…