Quotes passages from the publication "Mock Examination," showing test samples from sections of the new People's University Certificate Examination in English. The sections are on listening comprehension, oral production, reading comprehension, letter writing, structures, and vocabulary, which show differences from the traditional examination.…

A high school district employed multiple matrix sampling to establish cutting scores on reading and mathematics competency tests. Entry-level job holders in the working community were tested with subtests of the intact test. Generalizations were made from the results; performances of the high school and the community groups were compared.…

Hitherto, the People's University Certificate examinations were largely vocabulary and structure lists; the skills were weighted very differently. The new examinations define "behavioral objectives" much more exactly. Content guidelines are given, as well as text types, topics and "situations." A later article will discuss…

A recent study of "A Better Chance" students indicates that minority students do succeed at selective colleges but that their successes cannot be predicted by SAT scores alone. Findings of a study of 334 black and Spanish-surnamed students enrolled at 20 top American colleges are reported. (LBH)

The academic achievement of men and women was compared to determine why women are underrepresented in certain curricula, especially engineering. Math-related attitude and anxiety factors were examined, and a number of ACT test scores were studied. A math questionnaire is appended. (Author/MLW)

Offers a synthesis of the arguments for and against value-added testing (i.e., assessing how much students learn or improve or grow in school or college). Looks at alternative methods of measuring the value added in terms of the relationship between entry and exit skills. (DMM)

Notes that essay responses allow students to display the broadest range of cognitive skills. Considers ways of improving essay exams and claims that evaluating essay questions necessitates maintaining the author's anonymity, predetermining the method of awarding points, and scoring papers in a random order. (MM)

Changes in Scotland's curriculum have led to changes in student testing. A system of grade-related criteria has been developed--descriptions of expected performance in key aspects of a subject at different grade levels. (GDC)

In this paper a Bayesian procedure is developed for the simultaneous estimation of the reading ability and difficulty parameters which are assumed to be factors in reading errors by the multiplicative Poisson Model. According to several criteria, the Bayesian estimates are better than comparable maximum likelihood estimates. (Author/JAZ)

This study sought to determine: (1) if an advance organizer could establish a function concept as a subsumer for new concepts; and (2) if an established subsumer would facilitate learning, transfer, and retention of concepts on lives and scope. Students in a remedial college mathematics class were subjects of the study. (Author/LMO)

Behaviorally disturbed students were administered portions of a test battery including the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), and the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test (SDMT). Results on the predictive validity of the instruments for mathematics and reading are given. (Author/ABB)

Examines the history, magnitude, causes, consequences, and remedies of grade inflation. Predicts the erosion of professional autonomy and academic freedom if schools abandon the task of conscientiously assessing what students have learned and external agencies take on the task. (DMM)

Using the analogy of temperature measurement, the Rasch model is presented with arguments for its adoption as the basic scaling technique for achievement measures. Three extensions of the Rasch model for more complex testing are developed. Test development for the British national assessment program and the promise of item banking are also…

During 1969 the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement began a series of cross-cultural studies to investigate the workings of multiple-choice achievement tests and student guessing behaviors. Empirical models to correct for guessing are discussed in terms of test item difficulty, number of response choices,…

Research on the potential effects of different item arrangement schemes on item statistics is reviewed for three separate periods. Earliest studies investigated the simple main effect of item order on test performance. The late 1960s emphasized interactions between item order and examinees' characteristics. Current concern focuses on item…