To explain the discrepancy between median scores on the 1976 administration of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), ten technical variables typical of achievement tests were considered as explanations. (1) The STEP may measure different…

This series of six papers concerning the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study (BTES) starts with Teaching Behaviors, Academic Learning Time and Student Achievement: An Overview of Phase III-B of the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study by the project director, Charles Fisher. As an introduction, it describes a model of classroom instruction based on…

Funding for compensatory education programs for grades K-6 in Michigan has, since 1971, been based on the results of statewide achievement tests rather than on socioeconomic factors. The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) achievement tests are administered to public school students in fourth and seventh grades. To be eligible for state…

Three Minnesota correctional institutions used computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on PLATO terminals to improve reading and mathematics skills: (1) the State Reformatory for Men, St. Cloud (males, ages 17-21); (2) the Minnesota Home School, Sauk Centre (males and females, ages 12-18); and (3) the State Training School, Red Wing (males, ages…

Item response data were obtained from large samples of students in Grades K-community college, taking the following tests: Stanford Early School Achievement Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Stanford Test of Academic Skills, Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, and Stanford Diagnostic Mathematical Test. Data were classified as fitting or non-fitting…

The relative validity of adaptive and conventional testing strategies using non-test variables as one set of external criteria was investigated. A total of 101 college students completed both a variable length stradaptive test and peaked conventional test; a second group of 131 college students completed a variable length Bayesian adaptive test…

The arguments are presented for and against the Hawaii 3 on 2 program, a team-taught, flexible, individualized instructional program for primary grade students. This report is based on an advocate-adversary evaluation design. The advocate team concluded that: the program is working effectively; teachers, principals, and parents support the…

The effectiveness of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I reading and mathematics laboratories were evaluated to assess the improvement of underachieving elementary school students' academic skills. Laboratory students were selected on the basis of academic (rather than socioeconomic) criteria in grades 2 through 5; the control…

A LINEAR AND A BRANCHING PROGRAMED TEXTBOOK WERE COMPARED FOR EFFECTIVENESS WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH A CONVENTIONAL TEXTBOOK. SIX GROUPS OF 82 AIRMEN EACH STUDIED EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES UNDER THE THREE FORMATS. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN LEARNING WAS MEASURED BY BOTH MULTIPLE-CHOICE AND CONSTRUCTED-RESPONSE TESTS. IMMEDIATE ACHIEVEMENT WAS MEASURED BY…

Following opening remarks by Joseph L. Dionne, four sections of papers are presented. In part I--Testing and the Basic Skills--P. Michael Timpane and Judith Shoemaker discuss federal activities, Edwin L. West, Jr. discusses the coordination of teaching and testing, and Amelia Ashe describes testing and teaching of writing competency. Part…

This study determined whether item forms ( rules for constructing items related to a domain or set of tasks) would enable naive item writers to generate multiple-choice items at three taxonomic levels--knowledge, comprehension, and application. Students wrote 120 multiple-choice items from 20 item forms, corresponding to educational objectives…

The strengths and weakness of standardized tests, and trends in achievement testing in the last 15 years are examined. The discussion of achievement tests includes survey, instructional, diagnostic, and basic skills tests, as well as tests used for formative and summative evaluation. Minimum competency tests are not examined in detail. Advantages…

MEASURES OF CHILD BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTERISTICS, NOT YET PUBLISHED AS SEPARATE ENTITIES, WERE COLLECTED THROUGH A PAGE-BY-PAGE SEARCH OF ISSUES OF 46 JOURNALS (LISTED IN APPENDIX A) PUBLISHED DURING THE PERIOD OF JANUARY 1956 TO DECEMBER 1965 AND 50 RELEVANT BOOKS. CORRESPONDENCE WITH RESEARCHERS AND AUTHORS OF MEASURES YIELDED ADDITIONAL…

This study investigates the feasibility of using cloze procedure test items (in which a student supplies a word, letter, or phrase to fill a gap in a continuous text) for the written College Board foreign language achievement tests. An introduction which defines the problem, traces its history, and presents the overall design of the study is…

The concurrent validity of the third grade, New York State Pupil Evaluation Reading Program (PEP) reading test was examined with the following standardized tests: the Durrell Silent Reading Test, the Gilmore Oral Reading Test, the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), the Verbal IQ of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and the…