Investigated the effects of a 4 X 4 block scheduling program on a variety of student measures in a middle school with 355 block-scheduled students, some of whom were in high school at the time of the study. Results of the block scheduling were generally consistent with existing literature and generally positive. (SLD)

Compared scores for Texas eighth graders on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to study the achievement gap in mathematics in 1996 and 2000. Results show the likelihood of a ceiling effect impacting students' TAAS scores that created the illusion the achievement gap had narrowed.…

This is a report on the results of the Citywide Reading Test administered in June, 1979, in the elementary, intermediate and junior high schools of New York City. The testing instruments used were the California Achievement Tests. Section A of this report presents information on pupil performance for the school system as a whole. Section B…

This study examined differences in student achievement on the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics test by their teachers years-of-experience teaching mathematics. Data examined were mean scale scores or and eighth grade national, national public school students, and eighth grade Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas public…

The Hand Test was administered to 51 Black adolescent males who had been referred for chronic disruptiveness in the classroom. Interscorer reliability was .88. The Acting-out Ratio exceeded norms. The Interpersonal-Environmental Response Ratio was significantly imbalanced toward Interpersonal. This ratio may be a useful predictor of overt…

Studied the effects of calculator type (own calculator versus standard calculator) on student performance and the differential impacts of calculator type for children from a variety of backgrounds. Results for 50 eighth graders show no performance advantages associated with calculator type related to student background, but calculator preferences…

Studied the factorial invariance across students from different ethnic groups of a seventh-grade state reading assessment with a narrative passage selected for its Hispanic representativeness. Results for the 35,324 Kansas students support the factorial invariance of the scores, but invariance of the error variances across groups was not…

Studied the relationship between gender and mathematical problem solving in 83 male and 76 female high achieving Canadian 12-year-olds. Gender differences were found on the Canadian Test of Basic Skills but not on the GAUSS assessment. Implications for the discussion of the origin of gender differences in mathematics are discussed. (SLD)

Studied whether eighth-grade reading scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills predict success on the five subtests of the Georgia High School Graduation Test. Findings for 102 high school seniors show that reading scores are statistically significantly related to all five subtests, with correlations ranging from 0.69 to 0.86. (SLD)

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the interaction of item content and group membership on achievement test items. Estimates of the parameters of the three parameter logistic model were obtained on the 46 item math test for the sample of eighth grade students (N = 2055) participating in the Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress,…

This study involving 84 eighth-grade reading students in a rural middle school measured the effects of the location of glossary (vocabulary) words in anthology text books. Control groups read from texts with glossary words only at the end of the texts, and experimental groups read from texts with the glossary words on the bottom of text pages. All…

As part of a study of the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) in large-scale assessments, this study investigated the potential role of student preference in the use of accommodations with large-scale assessments and the effects of two test accommodations, providing extra assessment time and reading test items aloud, on the standardized…

The effect of rapid feedback for a state writing assessment on subsequent writing performance was investigated. In addition, the agreement between teachers' scores for the state writing assessment and state department scores was analyzed. Eighth grade English teachers (n=8) were trained in analytic trait scoring of writing assessments. They then…

A task specification chart that integrates the content facets and the procedural steps of a specified task is suggested as a tool for designing a test and interpreting its results. This procedure is demonstrated for a mathematics test covering one instructional unit on adding and subtracting fractions. (Author/GDC)

The Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS) of the American College Testing Program consists of three testing programs: EXPLORE, PLAN, and the ACT Assessment Program (ACT). EXPLORE is administered in the 8th grade, PLAN in the 10th grade, and the ACT in the 11th or 12th grade. This study investigated relationships among the composite…