When student achievement is assessed, we seek to elicit a student's maximum performance -- a goal requiring the assumption that the student is fully engaged. Otherwise, to the extent that disengagement occurs, test performance is likely to suffer. Effectively managing test-taking disengagement requires an understanding of the testing conditions…

Assessments represent an important component of undergraduate courses because they affect how students interact with course content and gauge student achievement of course objectives. To make decisions on assessment design, instructors must understand the affordances and limitations of available question formats. Here, we use a crossover…

The National Urban League president and CEO Marc H. Morial weighs in on what he sees as the need for continued annual assessments of students, rejecting the course of opting out that has taken hold in some places across America. Assessment data provides students with the opportunity to receive personalized supports and necessary interventions to…

Multiple choice testing is a common but often ineffective method for evaluating learning. A newer approach, however, using Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF AT®, Epstein Educational Enterprise, Inc.) forms, offers several advantages. In particular, a student learns immediately if his or her answer is correct and, in the case of an…

The multiple-choice question (MCQ) is the foundation of knowledge assessment in K-12, higher education, and standardized entrance exams (including the GRE, MCAT, and DAT). However, standard MCQ exams are limited with respect to the types of questions that can be asked when there are only five choices. MCQs offering additional choices more…

The United States education system depends on legislation and funding at the federal, state and local levels. Public understanding of assessment therefore is important to educational reform in the USA. Educational reformers often invoke assessment information as a reason for reform, typically by citing unacceptable achievement on some measure or…

College professors often regard their time in the classroom fulfilling and rewarding; the chance to affect the academic and professional development of their students is most likely a key reason why they chose to be professional educators. Unfortunately, with college courses come college credits, which necessitate a course grade for each student,…

Assessment is a hotly contested issue in education today. The education policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emphasizes standardized testing throughout a child's schooling as a major means of assessment. Even at Head Start an attempt was made at standardized testing using the National Reporting System (NRS). Although research indicates that these…

This report on the 1977 mathematics assessment of British Columbian students in grades 4, 8, and 12 describes the item specification model; test administration procedures; results for each grade level; and overall results correlated to sex, mother tongue, and parental level of schooling. (SJL)

In December 2004, the "Amarillo Globe News" reported on a "Dallas Morning News" story that analyzed state-mandated test scores from across Texas (Benton & Hacker, 2004; Wilson, 2004). According the "Amarillo Globe News," "the Dallas Morning News" study implicated Sunrise Elementary School, in Amarillo,…