While most educators assume that not all students try their best on achievement tests, no current research examines if behaviors associated with low test effort, like rapidly guessing on test items, affect teacher value-added estimates. In this article, we examined the prevalence of rapid guessing to determine if this behavior varied by grade,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the overall level of student achievement on the 2012 Kansas History-Government Assessment in Grades 6, 8, and high school, with major emphasis on the subject area of economics. It explored four specific research questions in order to: (1) determine the level of student knowledge of assessed economic…

In an Angoff standard setting procedure, judges estimate the probability that a hypothetical randomly selected minimally competent candidate will answer correctly each item in the test. In many cases, these item performance estimates are made twice, with information shared with the panelists between estimates. Especially for long tests, this…

Describes the performance of eighth graders on 37 questions from the National Assessment of Educational Progress 1998 Civics Assessment and indicates percentages of students answering given questions correctly. Includes samples of students' written responses. (Author/SLD)

This technical report describes a study that was undertaken to compare the content of two recent fourth-and eighth-grade assessments in science: the NAEP 2000 assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 assessment. Its aim is to provide information that will be useful for interpreting and comparing the…

As part of the Content Analysis Project, a panel of six experts in mathematics education examined the congruence between the Maryland grade-8 test and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Two panelists were very familiar with the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), two with the NAEP, and the other two…

This paper presents an overview of the design features that were developed for the Content Analysis Project. The purpose of the project was to examine the congruence between a state's test in eighth-grade mathematics and that used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The results of this analysis were then to be used to determine…

Whether there is a gender-by-item interaction that makes easy mathematics test items easier for females than for males and difficult items harder for females than for males was tested in two studies, involving 10,321 eighth graders and 5332 ninth graders and results from nine mathematics tests. The hypothesis was generally supported, as discussed.…

Designed as an overview of the 1979 and 1980 Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress (IIEP) in fourth, eighth, and eleventh grade reading, this report presents the results for each grade level along with performance comparisons between years and topic areas (using sources of information and reading in the social sciences, literature, and the…

This study examined the impact of students' background characteristics (English language proficiency) on the level of effectiveness of various types of testing accommodations. Data were collected from 946 eighth graders, some of whom were English language learners. Four accommodation strategies were used: (1) modified (simplified) English language…

The "sciences humaines" provincial assessment was conducted in June 1991 in Franco-Manitoban (Canadian) schools and in the French immersion program. Tests were administered to students in grades 8 and 10. Test results are presented in two preliminary reports, one for Franco-Manitoban schools and the present report for French immersion…

A series of tests was administered to Ontario, Canada students who had completed the eighth grade: mathematics, reading, language, written English, social studies, science, health, physical fitness, French as a second language, French as a first language, written French, values, moral reasoning, problem solving, and attitudes. Approximately 50…

Multiple-choice standardized achievement tests of English vocabulary and reading comprehension and of mathematics were administered to samples of 592 grade eight students and 615 grade five students. Two forms of each test unit were prepared. The control groups took forms containing items with four responses, while the experimental groups took…

This report supplies details of the design and data analysis of the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to allow the reader to judge the utility of the design, data quality, reasonableness of assumptions, appropriateness of data analyses, and generalizability of inferences made from the data. After an introduction by A. E.…

Different forms of accommodation have been suggested in the assessment of English language learners (ELL). This study examined the effectiveness of a few accommodation strategies on the performance of ELL students in mathematics. A group of 946 eighth graders participated in this study. Using mathematics test items from the National Assessment of…