Georgia's competency testing program has gained national recognition and has served as a model for other states planning such programs. The focus of this paper is on the Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in Administration and Supervision developed to conform to stringent legal and job-relatedness requirements. The test is required of educators…

Thirteen learning disabled and 15 remedial high school students were taught reasoning skills using computer-assisted instruction and were given basic or elaborated corrections. Criterion-referenced test scores were significantly higher for the elaborated-corrections treatment on the post- and maintenance tests and on a transfer test assessing…

This article explains characteristics associated with the use and evaluation of criterion-referenced measures by speech language clinicians, in contrast to norm-referenced measures. Guidelines are offered for the evaluation and selection of standardized criterion-referenced measures and for the development and ongoing evaluation of informal…

This module explains principles of competency-based education and assessment. Four competency-based curricula are outlined. The guide includes a list of definitions and uses a question-and-answer format to define competency-based education and to discuss competency-based assessment, criterion-referenced testing, and the Vocational Instructional…

This monograph is designed for educators who must make decisions about curriculum, instruction, and the training of teachers. Many important educational decisions are made based primarily, if not exclusively, on test scores. This reliance on test scores has evolved for a variety of reasons. This monograph starts with test scores as a given in…

Guidelines for evaluation of school programs in the State of Florida are presented. The purpose of evaluation is to modify the content and method of instruction, provide information to decision-makers and the public, provide feedback to participants, and determine criteria for program success. The optimal evaluation design for either innovative or…

Seventh-grade science students (n=22) wrote prompted essays, compare-contrast essays, and traditional end-of-chapter criterion-referenced tests. Results indicated that essay tests may be highly sensitive to instructional content and prompt design, and the validity of essays as measures of content learning relates more to goals of instruction than…

As part of a major effort to raise student achievement, Colorado schools have been putting into place rigorous academic content standards that spell out the skills and knowledge students should acquire in core subject areas. This guide contains information about part of this effort, the new Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), to help…

This paper provides an overview of standardized tests and a summary of important psychometric and test construction properties that educators must consider when they make critical evaluations of standardized tests. Sections of the paper concern: (1) basic characteristics of standardized tests; (2) differences between norm-referenced and…

This Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States (V-TECS) curriculum guide is designed to provide job relevant tasks, performance objectives, performance guides, resources, learning activities, evaluation standards, and achievement testing in word processing. It may be used with any teaching method chosen by the instructor. The guide…

This document contains tier locator and mastery tests, which form part of the Comprehensive Competencies Program (CCP) for adult and high school populations. The document begins with a detailed report on the nature and purposes of the tests. The report begins by discussing the structure of the tests, which parallels the structure of the CCP, and…

This speech presents instructional evaluation techniques currently used in Belleville, Illinois. These are based on two criteria: (1) community opinion, and (2) performance level of students. To discover community opinions, needs, priorities, and levels of support, questionnaires are distributed, presenting a series of curricular goals and…

Describes an installation of Comprehensive Instructional Management System (CIMS), a management information system for the instruction of mathematics in a New York school system. Suggests that CIMS has yielded dramatic gains in mathematics performance. (PK)

Features 2 of 12 exemplary math and science programs identified by educational groups. Washington School District, Phoenix, Arizona, improved student achievement in science by hands-on laboratory experience and creative staff use. Manchester, Connecticut, elementary students raised mathematics scores thorough an activities-based curriculum with…

Assigning grades is an integral part of social work education. However, social work educators must decide whether to use norm-referenced or criterion-referenced measurements to grade exams and other assignments. This paper presents arguments for grading with both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measurements. The benefits of…