Suggests the use of an extended K-W-L (What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned) to deal with problems with student information accuracy. Concludes that the extension of the K-W-L strategy provided opportunities for the public school students to research, check resources, and evaluate the reliability and validity of information before…

This guide was developed for State, agency, and/or facility administrators who provide education for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk (N or D). The guide provides basic information about the ideal characteristics of a pre-post test and highlights important features to consider when requesting and evaluating information…

Discusses the development of a reading progress chart to display students' chronological age versus reading age over a period of time. Investigates the validity of this methods of recording individual students' progress. Finds evidence for the usefulness of the chart as a pictorial record of students' progress. (RS)

Explains and demonstrates a procedure that is commonly used to determine the reliability of a test in such a way that a person who has modest arithmetical skills can carry out the same analysis on a classroom test or examination. (ASK)

In response to growing concern about the lack of basic writing skills, this paper presents an overview of the issues involved in selecting a method for the assessment of students' writing skills. After general criteria for determining the appropriateness of a writing evaluation procedure are outlined, the merits and limitations of objective tests…

Asserts that tests of student performance in economics courses on the college level do not necessarily enable educators to infer anything about what students have learned or the manner in which they have learned it. Suggests that economics instruction be tailored to the individual, allowing for different learning styles. (Author/DB)

Suggests three techniques for assuring the content validity of classroom/shop tests: build a bank of content-valid test items; develop valid tests based on a carefully prepared table of specifications; and check the validity of tests already developed. A self-test is included for the reader. (CT)

Notes professional journalists know they cannot be efficient news reporters without being able to do basic math. Describes five kinds of calculations journalists use, kinds of stories calculations appear in, and how to work with them. Discusses questions to ask about the reliability of data. Offers exercises dealing with mean and median, percent…

Holistic evaluation is a reliable, valid, and cost-effective alternative to the usual mechanical assessment of writing. Writing samples are scored on a five-point scale against an overall impression of development, organization, and coherentness. The method was applied to the Communication Activities Skills Project (CASP) for grades 3-12. Writing…

A discussion of good test criteria reviews the basic concepts of test theory, examines four types of validity, outlines the concept of reliability and its coefficients and limitations, makes suggestions for gauging test quality, and demonstrates use of the standard error of measurement for estimating the likelihood of misgrading. (MSE)

Describes an exercise that teaches students about methodological issues concerned with making reliable observations of behavior. Students learned Eckman's (1972) Facial Affect Scoring Technique from a microcomputer program and then applied it in real life. This exercise generated much discussion about research methods, built observational skills,…

Explores the potential for using computers in the diagnosis of learning disabilities. Describes a prototype computer based system designed to assist teachers in the assessment of reading difficulties. (FL)

A discussion of the use of computerized spreadsheets for recording and analyzing college students' grades looks at a variety of issues of concern in any evaluation situation (data collection and control, allocating grades, checking consistency, analyzing relationships between items of assessment and grades), and illustrate them with examples from…

Presents an instrument for assessing an individual student's decoding abilities by having a teacher analyze a student's attempts to pronounce a fictitious list of children's first and last names. Argues that the instrument is valid and reliable. (MG)

Presents an in-class activity which uses videotaped television shows to teach time sampling, event sampling, and trait rating techniques. Students responded favorably to this activity, and many reported that it increased their understanding of the different observation techniques. (Author/JDH)