Some students are less accurately measured by typical reading tests than other students. By asking teachers to identify students whose performance on state reading tests would likely underestimate their reading skills, this study sought to learn about characteristics of less accurately measured students while also evaluating how well teachers can…

This study examines performance differences between students with disabilities and students without disabilities students using differential item functioning (DIF) analyses in a high-stakes reading assessment. Results indicated that for Grade 9, many items exhibited DIF. Items that exhibited DIF were more likely to be located in the second half…

This report is an analysis of the role of assessment portfolios in teacher learning. Over 18 months, 19 experienced science teachers worked in grade-level teams to design, implement, and evaluate assessments to track student learning throughout a curriculum unit, supported by semi-structured tasks and resources in assessment portfolios.…

The author looks at critical dialogue surrounding the causes for the alarming high numbers of high school dropouts in states that use high stakes standardized testing mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, and investigates the perceived correlations between high stakes testing and high numbers of high school dropouts of minority students.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a false assumption regarding the motivation of examinees on test construction. Simulated data were generated using two models of item responses (the three-parameter logistic item response model alone and in combination with Wise's examinee persistence model) and were calibrated using a…

This keynote address begins with examples that underscore how profoundly the issues of multiculturalism and diversity impact the consciousness of society at the end of the 20th century. Changes in assessment that can lead to assessment for change in a culturally diverse society are based on the ideas that "assessment as a process must be…

This rebuttal of the criticisms made by Evans and Sperekas points to the fact that sex differences have been found by the authors on locus of control scales, that the purported sex-biased items in the Future Events Test are not necessarily outside the response repetoire of women, and the criticism of including female relevant items cannot be…

Court cases are presented that illustrate some of the issues that courts have dealt with in the area of educational testing. While this study was developed primarily for parents, the booklet should also help school administrators and testing professionals learn about court cases and precedents relevant to some major issues in educational testing.…

In this paper, a parallel is drawn between the sex differences in moral reasoning suggested by Gilligan (1982) and a masculine and a feminine approach to measurement and statistics. A masculine approach could be seen to focus on the application of the rules of mathematics and statistics to measurement problems in ways which rational observers…

Author focused on differences between whites and negroes in the United States and more generally on racial variation in man. (Author/RK)

Examples of cross-cultural stability or instability of mental test items are illustrated. A statistical procedure involving the cross-plotting of item difficulties for two different groups and generating a line of mutual regression through the resulting scatter of points is described. D-values, representing the perpendicular distance, in delta…

Critics of standardized testing are fighting back with lawsuits and legislation. Evaluates the Educational Testing Service's business policy and how it conflicts with quality testing. Also suggests actions that can be taken by concerned parents who wish to protect their children from unfair testing practice. (Editor/RK)

Analyses of college admissions aptitude test scores of 795 applicants for admission to major Northern Israeli university were undertaken to test for age bias in the predictive validity of scholastic aptitude test scores. Subjects were put into four age groups ranging from 18 to 49 years. Results support the differential predictive validity of…

A study was conducted to analyze contestants' scores per individual contest area and contestants' total scores from the 1979-84 National Agricultural Mechanics Contest, and to develop the methods of analysis used to evaluate internally the National FFA (Future Farmers of America) Agricultural Mechanics Contests. (CT)

Under the assumption of normalcy, a formula is derived for the reliability of the maximum score. It is shown that the maximum score is more reliable than each of the single observations but less reliable than their composite score. (Author/LMO)