A project was conducted to develop a criterion-referenced student testing program for secondary home economics (consumer education) in South Carolina. Procedures used to develop the test included the following: (1) the content elements of the consumer education curriculum were identified; (2) each content element was classified into the type and…

A sixth-grade mathematics test was evaluated in two different ways, and the evaluations were compared. One method of evaluation was to use the Rasch model for item analysis and to accept or reject items on the basis of the extent to which the data fit the model. The other method of evaluation was to ask school superintendents and teachers to rate…

Describes the use of Rasch item statistics for curricular analysis and instructional decision making. Uses a case study of application of the Rasch model in the pilot testing of items selected for criterion-referenced tests developed for grades one through eight in Charleston (South Carolina) schools. (SLD)