In four articles adapted from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Research Report Series, Issue 2 of ETS Research Spotlight provides a small taste of the range of assessment-related research capabilities of the ETS Research and Development Division. Those articles cover assessment-related research aimed at developing models of student learning,…

Several current international comparative large-scale assessments of educational achievement (ICLSA) make use of "Rasch models", to address functions essential for valid cross-cultural comparisons. From a historical perspective, ICLSA and Georg Rasch's "models for measurement" emerged at about the same time, half a century ago. However, the…

Describes an individual and group method for learning about children's school attitudes, appropriate for students not yet proficient in paper and pencil usage. Gives directions for administration and interpretation of the Kinetic School Drawing, and suggestions for using it as a counseling or diagnostic aid. (KMF)

This case study recounts the attempts of two school districts to improve decision making on the adoption of a new elementary social studies curriculum by using formal evaluation methodology. The study's main objective was to develop a series of criterion referenced (mastery level) tests from a list of social studies objectives to determine whether…