The use of achievement tests for high-stakes decision making is discussed, and some comments are made about Ralph Tyler's contributions to educational assessment and what has resulted from them. The assessment war was raging more than 100 years ago, as historical records of testing student achievement demonstrate. Ralph Tyler, in the 1960s, did…

This document contains statistical information for the following performance targets for school years 2002-03 and 2003-04 in the state of Hawaii: (1) reading; (2) mathematics; (3) graduation; and (4) retention. The federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law requires the state to report this information. The state performance of these groups are…

The present study sought to investigate the outcomes of the mastery instruction approach compared to a nonmastery approach of instruction with varying amounts of feedback being given to students with regard to their responses to multiple-choice test items on mastery tests. (Author)

The effectiveness of a supervised cross-age tutoring program in mathematics operations was assessed using 51 grade-six children and 25 grade-five children who tutored 51 grade-three and 25 grade-two children on a one-to-one basis for 30 minutes per day, for 20 days. (Author/PN)

Comparative predictive validities of 147 secondary school students were examined for six subtests of the SRA Assessment Survey and for five subscales of the Dimensions of Self-Concept relative to overall/grade point average (GPA) earned and to GPA achieved in English and mathematics courses. (Author)

Discusses the problems of introducing diagnostic assessment into Scottish secondary schools in the light of existing assessment policies, teachers' assessment skills, assessment practices, and in view of internal and external influences which produce sociological problems. Problems that the diagnostic assessment itself can produce are then…

Whether culturally biased tests are useful depends on what is meant by that phrase and the purpose for which the test is to be used. Keeping the distinction between aptitude and achievement in mind, different definitions of fair use of tests come from different sets of societal values. (Author/CM)

Investigated the test performance of learning disabled and emotionally impaired children to aid in identification and differentiation of the two groups. A cut off score on the WISC-R, WRAT, and MPD was established that significantly separated the groups. The best predictors of achievement varied for the two groups. (JAC)

Asian-American, White, and Black Children in grades 2-6 were tested for intelligence, achievement, and short-term memory. Factor analysis yielded two main factors: memory and general intelligence. The three groups differed distinctly at every grade level. Achievement correlated more with memory than with general intelligence. (Author/CP)

Five standardized tests of reading achievement were administered to community college freshmen. Students took two different tests on consecutive days. Grade-equivalent scores on tests were compared. Differences were found between tests based on the number of students who reached the criterion score of grade-equivalent 11 or 12. (Author/CTM)

Discusses techniques utilized by some science education researchers to assess and represent information in an individual's cognitive structure such that it can be compared to the subject matter structure taught. The author recommends caution in utilizing such techniques. (HM)

Sex differences in GCE 'O' level examination performance are reflected both in the number of boys and girls entering for different subjects and in the numbers obtaining the higher grades. From a review of possible factors, it seems that sex-role stereotyping is the most influential. (Author/SJL)

Flexible admissions standards have been adopted to meet the challenge of equalization of educational opportunity. There are more complex uses for standardized admissions tests which traditionally are used on a competitive basis as gate-keepers to colleges. New uses are related to academic and personal needs of newly entering students. (Author/BEF)

Individuals, randomly selected from important but diverse community and school groups, rated the tasks tested and the items used in the Mathematical Tests of the Australian Studies in School Performance. For tasks at the basic numeracy level, disagreement was generally insignificant. (Author/SJL)