The general topic of training needs related to achievement testing is addressed. Questions are raised about training as a means for educational improvement; needs specific to the achievement testing area are discussed; and a specific list of questions to be considered in planning training efforts is presented. It is concluded that using a thematic…

Three aspects of sex bias in ability tests are discussed. The first two areas of concern are the surface qualities of test items (surface, in the sense that these qualities may be seen by inspection and do not require empirical data), and the equating of male and female score distributions through item analysis and item selection techniques. The…

This conference paper examines issues regarding minimum competency testing, including: (1) the history and current status of minimum competency testing programs, in the U.S. and especially in the Midwest; (2) technical characteristics of minimum competency tests; (3) the relationship of minimum competency tests to the regular curriculum and…

A specific application of the process of automating exams for any introductory statistics course is described. The process of automating exams was accomplished by using the Statistical Test Item Collection System (STICS). This system was first used to select a set of questions based on course requirements established in advance; afterward, STICS…

Guidelines developed specifically for cases in which objectively scored written tests are to be used are described. When objective cognitive tests are properly built and used, they can serve four educationally important functions. These tests provide the instructor information on what a student can and cannot do. The instructor needs this…

The aim of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Supplementary Frame Assessment is to locate and assess samples of seventeen-year-olds no longer participating in the regular school curriculum. In this way a sample representative of the entire age group may be obtained for assessment purposes. Phase I of the study dealt with the…

Procedures used to compare the results from item response theory as well as more traditional equating methods were described and critically analyzed. The implications of the comparison of equipercentile, linear, one-parameter (Rasch), and three-parameter methods for equating twelve forms of each of the five tests of General Educational Development…

The effect of television on the performance of 20 learning disabled children (6-10 years old) was investigated. Television was employed as a means of presenting a formal diagnostic measure (the Visual Sequential Memory Subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities). The subtest was administered via videotape by a fictional character…

Practical advice on frequently asked questions dealing with research and evaluation methodology is presented as rules of thumb, with citations to the author's sources. A statement in the literature is considered a rule of thumb if it meets one of the following criteria: (1) it is specifically called a rule of thumb; (2) it contains numbers in…

This study presents an application of the Rasch equating methodology on a minimum competency testing program in reading and mathematics. Common item equating was performed in two stages to link the 1978-1979 form of the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills tests to the 1977-1978 form. Both fit to the Rasch model and stability of the common item pools…

The possible effects of applying new assessment techniques to second language learning is dramatized by two contrasting scenarios. The first describes a high school Spanish class as we might find it today: the teaching is effective, but the best results are not being obtained. The second scenario is set in the year 1990. Here, applications of…

UNFAVORABLE RESULTS IN GRADING ESSAYS, PARTICULARLY THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD GENERAL COMPOSITION TEST, LED TO THE STUDY. IT WAS EXPECTED THAT PROGRESS IN OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF ESSAYS WOULD BE MADE, BY MEANS OF A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGMENTS OF A DIVERSE GROUP OF COMPETENT READERS IN AN UNSTRUCTURED SITUATION. IT WAS HOPED THAT…

INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED CONCERNING BASIC LEARNING CHARACTERISTICS OF RETARDED CHILDREN USING, INSOFAR AS POSSIBLE, MATERIALS WITH WHICH THEY HAVE HAD LITTLE OR NO PREVIOUS FAMILIARITY. THIRTY MENTALLY RETARDED AND AN EQUAL NUMBER OF NORMAL CHILDREN RANGING FROM 8 TO 9 YEARS IN MENTAL AGE WERE THE SUBJECTS OF THE STUDY. STANDARDIZED LISTS OF…

SEVENTH- AND EIGHTH-GRADE PUPILS WERE SELECTED FOR THIS STUDY OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD AND POOR PROBLEM-SOLVERS AND FOR AN ANALYSIS OF PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITY. THESE PUPILS WERE OLD ENOUGH FOR MANY TESTS IN LARGE-SCALE FACTOR ANALYSES OF REASONING ABILITY, AND HAVE HAD LITTLE PARTICIPATION IN FORMAL PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES. SEVERAL TESTS OF…

PRE-EXISTING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN WORDS WAS HYPOTHESIZED TO BE A VARIABLE INFLUENCING CHOICE OF WORDS DURING THE PROCESS OF SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION. IN THE FIRST EXPERIMENT, 32 SS (SUBJECTS) ENGAGED IN A PACED-RECALL TASK. MATERIALS WERE SETS OF THREE SENTENCES WHICH VARIED ONLY IN TWO NON-ASSOCIATED EMBEDDED ADJECTIVES WHICH COULD BE INTERCHANGED…