This paper will describe the relationships between research on learning and its application in assessment models and operational systems. These have been topics of research at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) for more than 20 years and form a significant part of the intellectual foundation of…

A study examined the predictive validity of two methods of prior knowledge assessment: free association and prediction. Subjects, 72 sixth graders from suburban public and private schools, were divided into four groups: standard free association; standard free association plus prediction; definitional free association; and definitional free…

This study compared the reliability and validity of two different measures of reading ability, the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Reading test and the ITBS Vocabulary test. The data consisted of scores of 377 grade 5 and grade 6 students on these tests, along with their assigned reading levels in the…

A study examined the linguistic strategies of strong and weak readers in grades three and six within the context of D. E. Rumelhart's interactive model of the reading process. A linguistic prediction task was set up to investigate students' use of orthographic constraints, syntactic redundancy, and syntactic and semantic knowledge. A program was…

The controversy over what divergent thinking tests measure was addressed by conducting a study of the relationship between divergent thinking and vocational interests. Forty-one above-average fifth graders were administered Pattern and Line Meanings a year before they took the American College Testing Program (ACT) Interest Inventory. Divergent…

In a study of the relationship between teacher behavior and reading achievement, trained observers, using the Georgia Assessment of Teacher Effectiveness (GATE), observed 36 teachers and 820 students in grades five and six. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Reading Comprehension subtest was administered and the socioeconomic status of each student…

This study was designed to examine the extent to which Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) constructing meaning scores correlate with Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading scores and with performance on ITBS items dealing with literal meaning, inferences, and generalizations. In addition, this study assessed the ability of the IGAP reading…

A longitudinal study of various measures of creativity was conducted to determine the validity of a number of possible predictors of an arts orientation. Tests of creative thinking, creative personality, divergent thinking, intelligence, and school achievement were administered to above-average fifth-graders (N=23), who also drew pictures based on…