In this study, we identified the code-related (decoding, fluency) and language comprehension (vocabulary, listening comprehension) demands of the CBM-Maze test, a formative assessment, and compared them to those of the Gates-MacGinitie test, a standardized summative assessment. The demands of these reading comprehension tests and their…

In the generative classroom, teachers provide well-designed learning environments that result in the combination, recombination, and reorganization of repertoires such that new untaught repertoires are likely to occur. One component that can contribute to such generativity is Precision Teaching (PT), a frequency building instructional…

Recent research in the area of Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) in writing has shown that traditionally used metrics, such as total words written and total words correct, may not be the best tools for measuring writing performance, for both secondary and elementary aged children (e.g., Gansle, Noell, VanDerHeyden, Naquin, & Slider, 2002; Tindal…

This year the Center on Education Policy (CEP) analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps…

The purpose of this study was to design, produce, and evaluate testing reports that would be useful and meaningful at the classroom level: reports that would be useful to teachers and informative to parents, without making time demands on teachers in either preparation of the reports or in inservice training in educational measurement. The Iowa…

A taxonomy was developed for classifying instructional materials in fourth grade mathematics, as well as the content of actual classroom instruction and of achievement tests. The taxonomy is defined by the intersection of three factors and results in 468 cells: (1) mode of presentation (for example, use of graphs, tables, story problems)--3…

A study involving 14 regular classroom student science teachers assigned to Grades 3, 4, and 5 and the public school students in each of the classes was undertaken to assess the relationship between student achievement and teacher performance ratings. The student teachers were all female and were seniors in a four-year undergraduate teacher…

This investigation attempts to determine if the congruity in textbook-test content varies as a function of different styles of textbook use. Across all standardized tests, instructional validity of the five styles of textbook use was far lower for the management-by-objectives model than for any other styles. (Author/PN)

Two projects that have explored the feasibility of computer-generated verbal score reports for the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are reported. The first, the Madison Project, designed, produced, and evaluated computer-generated testing reports that were useful to teachers and informative to parents. The reports, which were narrative in format, were…

BENCHMARKS is intended as an aid to the proper use of Georgia Statewide Testing Program scores. It provides information about the program and the tests; reading and understanding the various reports; understanding what the scores mean; and applying test results for the improvement of learning opportunities for Georgia children and youth. It is…

This dataset contains information collected by the 1989 Alaska Statewide Assessment Survey. The respondents of the survey were students in grade 4, 6, and 8 across the state, their teachers, and school principals. A total of 23,436 cases, representing more than 95% of the eligible students, are included in the dataset. The tape contains five…

To gather longitudinal student achievement data from schools utilizing the four-day week, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) grade equivalent scores were obtained in 1984 from five rural Colorado school districts for four consecutive years--two years prior to and two years following the districts' change to the shortened week. A first analysis…

Colorado conducts an assessment program to provide a statewide profile of student achievement. Results for fall 1988 and fall 1991 are presented in a series of tables. A standardized, nationally norm-referenced achievement test, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, was administered in 1988 to students in grades 4, 7, and 10, and again to the same…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a well established tool for formative assessment. CBM has also been used for prediction of state test scores. However, validity coefficients between math-CBM and state tests have been moderate at best (Skiba, Magnusson, Martson, and Erickson, 1986; Martson, 1989; Putnam, 1989). The purpose of the present…