This paper reviews some of the suggested indices of learning and of the problems inherent in gain measures. It then discusses the relevance of criterion-referenced testing and of operationally-defined testing to the measurement of achievement. (Editor)

The "Super Search Reprint" contains a background paper and 152 abstracts on the topic of curriculum-based assessment and curriculum-based measurement. A paper by Mark Shinn and others, titled "Curriculum-Based Assessment: A Comparison of Models" ("School Psychology Review," 1989, volume 18, number 3), presents four…

Student Progress Monitoring (SPM) offers an effective and time-efficient way for teachers and administrators to make informed instructional decisions and quantify students' rate of progress. SPM differs from traditional standardized tests in that it involves administering short tests (typically one to five minutes) frequently, usually one or more…

The increasing relation between domain-referenced measurement and its implications in instruction are discussed with the argument that construction methods available do not guarantee content validity which needs more attention to be effective. Two domain-referenced testing procedures illustrate construction and validity problems. (CM)

Focusing on the use of "paper and pencil" criterion-referenced tests in educational measurement, and to correct misconceptions, the definitions of basic terms and historical antecedents are discussed. Classifications of the tests are compared with other achievement tests. The phases in developing criterion-referenced tests are presented with the…

Criterion-referenced measurement (CRM) has received increasing attention in regular education. However, it is in education for handicapped children that CRM's flexibility for individualization of both instruction and evaluation become even more fully realized. Research is described on one of the first CRM systems (Individual Achievement Monitoring…

This paper presents the interim results of a set of studies undertaken to develop a much needed methodology for establishing content validity in domain-referenced achievement tests. The study results are presented in the context of the larger issue of the improvement of test design. School teachers, administrators and graduate students were…

This article reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of 142 educational psychologists from England and Wales on their approach to the assessment of children with learning and behavioural problems. Participants were asked to report on the frequency with which they used a variety of approaches to assessment, including interviews with…

Describes and applies several alternative distribution criterion to secondary analysis of pre- and post-achievement scores from 15 sixth-grade classrooms. Illustrates examples where a teacher could be considered "effective" under one criterion, but "ineffective" under another. Also addresses policy implications concerning use of alternative…

A school and community must state their goals for students and then, avoiding the use of commerical tests, design a means of evaluation to determine if those goals have been met. (Author/JM)

This study established criterion-referenced standards for selected tests of arm and shoulder girdle strength and endurance in college females. Tests of trained and untrained students using the contrasting groups method yielded criterion cutoff scores that classified subjects as trained or untrained based on upper arm and shoulder girdle resistance…

Despite their advantages over other assessment techniques, current achievement and ability tests are not especially efficient sources of information for the range of educational decisions for which they are used and relied upon. Two major types of tests, criterion-referenced and norm-referenced, and two types of use, student evaluation and program…

A technique that can be used in the evaluation of program effectiveness focuses on differences between schools or programs at the item level rather than at the level of total test score. The technique was used to compare the results of norm and objective-reference mathematics achievement tests administered to Michigan fourth graders. (Author/JAC)

One Midwestern state has chosen a model of state assessment in which local school districts are responsible for developing the strategies to measure and report their students' performance on state-adopted content standards. When students are not measured on common instruments, district accountability becomes an added challenge. This paper presents…

Those who are charged with the evaluation of an educational program or school or effects of teaching often must consider how well students do on the variety of standardized tests they take in the course of a school year. This overview describes common types of tests students take in large-scale programs. Criterion-referenced tests are tests that…