The 1993 Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) Reading Tests measured reading comprehension using both narrative and expository reading passages. Noticeable differences in mean scaled scores occurred depending on whether the 1993 results were equated back to the 1992 narrative test or the 1993 expository test (Hsu and Ackerman, 1994). In an…

The paper discusses an experiment in which regression analysis was used to examine predictors of information retention following a college economics course. It was hypothesized that students taught in small classes with self-instructional materials would place a higher value on basic economic concepts and retain these concepts longer than students…

Development of The Assessment of Basic Competencies (ABC), a test battery based on the three-parameter logistic model, is described. Eleven dimensions of intellectual growth are measured, from the pre-kindergarten level through ninth grade. An educationally relevant skill domain is represented by each test. Unique properties of the test, based on…

This paper provides a very brief summary of the first three years of study of the court-ordered desegregation effort in St. Louis (Missouri). It examines differences in the reading and mathematics scores from the Stanford Achievement Test along with a performance-based writing assessment for four groups of African-American students. These groups…

What the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) test actually tests and the consequences of these tests for funding decisions were studied with a random sample of 100 school districts in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. Eighth-grade IGAP scores for reading were obtained from the state report card, a document prepared by each school district…

The Delaware Educational Assessment Program publishes annual results from the California Test of Basic Skills by district, school, and grade (1 through 8 and 11). A statewide computer information system was developed to manage the testing program, the massive 10-year longitudinal database, and the information requests received. The Delaware…

Before a bilingual program can be set up, students who are potential candidates for such a program must be identified. A study was made to investigate the interrelationships of three commonly used measures of "language dominance": the Language Facility Test (LFT), the Home Bilingual Usage Estimate (HBUE), and the Teacher Judgment Questionnaire…

This study evaluates the results of innovation in teaching methodology in an American government college course. The assumption of the study was that organizing a course into modules which required students to be tested for proficiency after each module was presented would maximize student factual knowledge gain and would result in improved…

This review of research studies focused on differences between Hispanic-American and White, non-Hispanic groups on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Questions studied were the factors associated with ethnic group mean differences on the SAT; the types of item format or content found differentially easier or more difficult for Hispanics; the…