Assessing the comparability of different groups is an issue facing many researchers and evaluators in a variety of settings. Commonly, null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is incorrectly used to demonstrate comparability when a non-significant result is found. This is problematic because a failure to find a difference between groups is not…

Sponsored by the by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a set of tests administered every three years to 15-year-olds around the world. These tests measure students' practical ability in basic skills such as reading, mathematics, and science, but reporting…

Ethnic origin is one factor that may influence the rate or sequence of infant motor development, interpretation of screening test results, and decisions regarding early intervention. The primary purpose of this study is to compare motor development screening test scores from infants of Asian and European ethnic origins. Using a cross-sectional…

The objectives of this study were to investigate the alignment of exam questions with course learning outcomes in a first year biology majors course, to examine gaps and overlaps in assessment of content amongst the sections of the course, and to use this information to provide feedback to the teaching team to further improve the course. Our…

The intention of Performance-Based Accountability (PBA) policies is to foster school changes to enhance student learning and success. The influence of variation in these approaches, however, has not been empirically determined. This article employs a new conceptual framework to describe PBA models and compare them across contexts. We conducted a…

Large-scale assessment regularly takes place in most jurisdictions across Canada, a fact not lost on the Fraser Institute and other right wing think tanks such as AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies) which use the test results as the primary basis for compiling school rankings at both the elementary and secondary level (see Gutstein,…

Driven largely by calls for accountability, the use of large-scale testing is expanding in terms of the number and purposes of testing programmes. At the same time, financial constraints have resulted in attempts to reduce the lengths of such examinations. An examination of the 1994/1995 and 1995/1996 British Columbia Scholarship programme…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Mathematics 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Mathematics 33 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

Results of the administration in 1971 of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Survey D, Form 1M, to 5,480 fifth grade pupils of Vancouver schools are reported and compared with results obtained with the same test administered in 1968. The test results, which are presented in four tables, indicate that the 1971 students performed slightly better in…

Describes how chemistry teachers at Ontario universities can obtain the scores of high school classes that have taken the Chemistry Assessment Test, a test designed to determine the chemical knowledge of beginning freshmen chemistry students. (MLH)

The questionnaire for parents who previewed the drug education program for grades 4-7 in the Vancouver schools and responses to the questionnaire are presented. All questions except one involve rating aspects of the program on a scale--excellent, good, fair, poor. The last question asks for the respondent's comments. (For related documents, see TM…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the January 1997 administration of the Chemistry 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the January 1997 administration of the Biology 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the Physics 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school and…