Intended for teachers and students, this document updates information about the design, sections, and scoring of the Grade 12 diploma examinations in English 30 and 33 for the 1986-87 school year in Alberta, Canada. It contains blueprints illustrating the relationship between the content and scoring of writing and reading test assignments and…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test contains 80 multiple choice test items based on the ten readings in the readings booklet. The questions examine the student's skills in (1) understanding meanings, (2) understanding and interpreting the relationships between form and…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills in reading, language, and mathematics was administered to 3,417 second through twelfth grade students plus 201 resource room special education students for a total of 3,618 students, 97% of the student population in the Crete-Monee (Illinois) School District, in April, 1986. The test results were compared:…

A study was undertaken to describe assessment activities of four school districts in Maryland (Washington, Cecil, Montgomery, and Charles Counties) designed to parallel a state-mandated competency-testing program required for high school graduation and to report uses of scores and positive and negative impacts from assessment activities. The…

The proliferation of minimum competency testing in recent years has not resulted in a critical analysis of the construct validity of such tests. The present study examined the dimensionality and construct validity of an urban life skills competency test (the 1987 eighth-grade Chicago Minimum Proficiency Skills Test (MPST) via linear analysis. The…

Methods used to diagnose a seven-year old boy's reading problems illustrate the fact that reading assessments based upon a reader's strengths and a reader's understanding and control of the process will provide information which is more useful to teachers and parents than that provided by the numerical results of standardized tests. After Andrew,…

Once every three years, school districts receiving Chapter 1 funds are required to conduct a study of the sustained effects of their Chapter 1 programs. To meet this requirement, the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools employed a fall-spring test design to determine the degree to which pupils who participated in the Compensatory Language Experiences…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examinations in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) includes the following nine short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama: "The Biggest Liar in the World" (Harry Mark Petrakis); "Victorian…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this questions booklet contains 80 multiple choice test items based on the nine selections in an accompanying readings booklet. The questions examine the students' skills in (1) understanding meanings; (2) recalling materials read; (3) understanding…

Intended for students taking Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test is designed to be administered with a questions booklet. The following short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and day-to-day functional materials are included: (1) "M is for Mother" (Marjorie Riddle);…

Whether the time limits of the Academic Assessment Placement Program (AAPP) Reading Comprehension Test of the State Board of Regents (SBR) of Tennessee provide fair treatment for all underprepared students was assessed. Focus was on studying various response patterns and completion rates that indicate whether or not speededness (SP) is critical.…

Designed to present a historical account of instructional approaches to the teaching of comprehension as well as insights into effective approaches for the present and the future, this collection of papers is divided into three parts, concerned respectively with: (1) instructional research in reading comprehension, (2) the reader and the text, and…

Intended for students taking the English 33 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this booklet contains the 70 multiple choice questions related to the nine selections in the readings booklet of Part B, the reading component of the June 1988 tests. The questions examine students' skills in: (1) understanding meanings; (2) understanding…

This Technical Report provides descriptions and summary data that assist measurement specialists in assessing the procedures used in developing New Jersey's High School Proficiency Test (HSPT), the technical qualities of the tests, and the statewide results obtained from its use. The data summarized in this report were collected during the various…

A bulletin concerning Alberta's Grade 6 French language achievement test to be administered in June 1988 provides specific information about the test's design, items, and scoring. It begins with general information about the province's achievement test program in English and goes on to describe and illustrate the French language arts achievement…