The 1981 Basic Skills Summer School Program in Montgomery County, Maryland public schools provided intensive remedial instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics to pupils who scored very low on national standardized achievement tests. An evaluation of the program's effects found that (1) over all, participating students in grades 4-8 scored…

Methods of assessing the reading needs of college students can be examined in relation to two broad categories of college reading programs: (1) the self-contained course or sequence of courses in reading and study skills, and (2) courses or programs in which instruction in reading and study skills is interwoven with supplementary instruction in a…

This manual is written for the individual responsible for choosing the passing score on an educational or occupational test. It concentrates on practical advice to help select and apply a method for choosing the passing score. Decisions, standards, and judgments are defined and discussed in terms of considerations in choosing a passing score…

This paper reports the development and testing of measures of teachers' attitudes toward testing and appropriate use of tests. A random sample of 555 practicing teachers in Wyoming were surveyed by mail (81 percent response rate). Five subscales assessing attitudes toward use of classroom and standardized tests were identified: (1) standardized…

The predictive value of secondary school honors-type courses for the college admissions process was studied, with attention to the proposition that an honors-type course grade should be promoted one full level (e.g., from a "B" to an "A"). The sample consisted of 950 freshmen at Pennsylvania State University in 1979. The…

Standardized achievement tests and instructional accomplishment inventories involve different methodologies and cannot be equated by using conventional psychometric methods. Instructional accomplishment inventories are descriptive, and are designed to reflect the scope, sequence, and skills and emphasis in a particular instructional program.…

At the end of the seventh grade, students in Kenya are required to take the Certificate of Primary Education Examination (CPE), which is used as a selection instrument to determine whether students will be allowed to continue an academic course of education at the secondary school level. While the full range of subjects in the primary school…

This guide--written for school administrators, teachers, counselors, parents, and the community--describes educational tests and measurements and test-related statistics. While specifically intended to help readers interpret the tests administered in the Los Angeles (California) Unified School District, this information may also be used to…

School unit achievement gains computed by six different methods are compared. The data include total reading scores from the Metropolitan Achievement Test administered to Title I students in 32 elementary schools. The achievement gains were computed in standard scores, grade equivalents, percentile ranks, residual scores based on individual scores…

Declining test scores have been publicized throughout the nation for the past several years as a major educational issue. Because of the kinds of statements made, the conclusions drawn by educators and public alike, the San Mateo Educational Resources Center requested that a review of the literature and a bibliography be prepared that indicated…

Most U.S. institutions require international students to meet a minimum English proficiency test requirement for admission to the institution. The language requirements for admission appear to be the same for technical and for academic students. Standardized English proficiency tests purport to be non-specific; yet an analysis of the items on a…

A learning package that offers a straightforward explanation of the procedures with which to administer a standardized test is described. Information is provided on the program purposes, content, activities, resources, ordering information, and history of development. A critique is also provided. (DS)

This paper describes the components of an Instructional Accomplishment Information (IAI) system, discusses general procedures for using the information reports to communicate instructional accomplishments to appropriate audiences, compares IAI information and standardized tests in a public relations context, and notes the role of educational…

Three do-it-yourself intelligence test handbooks, five mini-textbooks, and five consumer protection guides are reviewed. Each type of publication reflects different social ideologies and communicates favorable, cautiously neutral, or critical messages, respectively, about testing. Psychologists Jules Leopold, Martin Lutterjohan, and Victor…

The point of view is presented that evaluation procedures should be more humanistic and, that where educational procedures are open or humanistic, evaluation procedures must also be humanistic in order to be isomorphically valid. A number of quotations from parents of school children are presented to support the position that the parents feel…