The use of paper and pencil, videotape recordings, and microcomputers in student testing provide three very different views of student achievement. Paper and pencil tests can record how students compose tests and documents, and how they critique documents or performances. Video recordings can record how students explain ideas, answer questions,…

This simulation study involved the design of two two-stage tests in which the routing tests and the second-stage measurement testlets took the form of a multidimensional knapsack problem with prespecified target informations and constraints to be enumerated using the algorithm of E. Balas. Two conventional tests of similar length to the two-stage…

Procedures used in securing the cooperation of states and schools for the 1990 Trial State Assessment Program (TSAP) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are described. These include procedures for: (1) the 1989 Field Test; (2) the training of local administrators and quality control monitors; and (3) scoring and processing…

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is rapidly progressing from the position of having an assessment program that does not work to the position of having an assessment program that does work. The perception that assessment is separate from instruction has changed to a view of assessment as part of a four-stage model including planning,…

Assessment of Baseline Curriculum (ABC Tests) is a locally developed objectives-referenced assessment system that matches the Dallas Independent School System's Baseline Curriculum. Designed for instructional use and not for accountability, a major purpose of the ABC Test is to measure student attainment of objectives in the Mathematics and…

This study tested the predictive ability of MMPI scales to identify United States Air Force Academy freshmen who were "high risk" for problems of emotional adjustment and subsequent separation from the Academy. Rate of attrition and problems in emotional adaptation leading to separation were significantly greater in the high-risk group…

A chronicle of controversies over testing (heredity-environment, experimenter bias, social class bias, tests as sorters for schools and society) and the difficulties that ensue when the scholar enters the arena of public policy. The thesis is offered that the hearing given to social evidence and issues depends on the times and the audience, with…

A pilot study of a computerized adaptive test of mathematics achievement was conducted in May and June 1989 in selected schools of the San Diego Unified School District. The study evaluated the usefulness of the test for determining eligibility for Chapter 1 programs in mathematics. The test was a prototype battery of three adaptive tests: (1)…

The relationship between test anxiety and performance on oral comprehensive examinations was studied, with special attention to the repressor phenomenon. Repressors are persons who report low anxiety, but are actually more stressed than are low anxious subjects, as evidenced on measures not relying on self-report. Subjects were 42 female graduate…

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire sent to 211 Measurement Services Association members. Sixty-four centers responded. The main purpose of the questionnaire was to find out what hardware and software are used by testing centers throughout the country. Results indicate that 52 institutions use mainframe computers, 50 use…

This manual, accompanying the New York State Regents Examinations and Competency Tests, is intended for use by school administrators, guidance counselors, teachers, and proctors. Regents examinations measure the quality of instruction and learning that has taken place in high schools, and provide information for educational and vocational decision…

An ideal system of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), from the local school district perspective, must follow several principles based on the 1985 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing: (1) Testing must be viewed by teachers and students as worthwhile. (2) Test results must be presented in a timely and useful…

This handbook is designed to serve as a resource for Alaskan district-level administrators in charge of planning, implementing and monitoring districtwide student assessment programs. The information is divided into 10 chapters, including: (1) aligning assessment with curriculum and instruction; (2) planning an assessment program; (3)…

In the Louisiana Basic Skills Testing (BST) program, initiated in 1982, criterion-referenced tests of language arts and mathematics were administered to all second grade students. Longitudinal data over three years tracked four cohorts of students to address when retention appears to be most effective and whether a combination of repeated…

This study focused on two questions: (1) whether the types of study-aid test, or the levels of test anxiety would affect the level of performance on the test under non-anxious conditions; and (2) whether there would be any interaction effect between the types of study-aid test and the levels of anxiety under non-anxious conditions. Twelve female…