The North Carolina End-of-Grade (NCEOG) Test of Mathematics, Grade 8 was compared to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--Grade 8 along three dimensions: technical, content, and cognitive. An expert panel of six judges (mathematics educators) examined the supporting documents, the content frameworks, the items, and actual test…

Testing of and interviews with (n=83) eighth-grade students who were presented with a set of linear equation-solving and checking tasks found two categories of checking behavior: structurally erroneous behavior and executionally erroneous behavior. Relates solving and checking behavior and metacognition. (16 references) (Author/MKR)

This booklet contains released test items from the spring 2000 administration of the eighth grade mathematics and science tests of the Colorado Student Assessment Program. Items are released with the correct answers, and the scoring guide is included for selections from the constructed response portion of the science test. (SLD)

The high percentage of eighth grade students failing the school district's criterion referenced mathematics test was addressed by the implementation of an instructional alignment program. Program goals included test mastery by 75 percent of the targeted population, establishment of practical significance for the approach, and a reduction in test…

The use of new extension of standard Item Response Theory (IRT) modeling of dichotomous items to include external variables is proposed. External variables may appear both as categorical grouping variables and as continuous variables; this requires the formulation of a model for the relationships between the external variables and the response…

The consistency with which students apply procedural rules for solving signed-number operations across identical items presented in different orders was examined in a study involving 161 eighth graders. Inconsistent rule application was common among students who had not mastered signed-number arithmetic operations. (TJH)

This paper describes a 2-year collaborative action research project in which the focus was to investigate the effects of the use of "Hands-On Equations" mathematics manipulatives in an algebra class on students' confidence, interest in, and ability to solve and retain understanding of algebraic equations. The first phase centered on documenting…

This survey reflects new developments in the mathematics curriculum as emphasized in the curriculum frameworks and state-adopted textbooks. The first section describes the procedure for the development of the survey and the rationale for the topics and types of questions included on the mathematics portion of the test. The second section describes…

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…

Examined are the sex differences in mathematics achievement from a cross-cultural perspective using the data of the Second International Mathematics Study. The overall sex differences in geometry and measurement areas are reported. It was found that differences among countries were greater than sex differences. (YP)

The temporal stability and intertask consistency of an eighth-grade mathematics performance assessment and how task similarity affects the ability to generalize results of the assessments were studied with results from 101 eighth graders. Results support the suggestion that large-scale performance assessments be used with considerable caution…

Because of the high incidence of failure in algebra I among ninth-grade students, the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education requested the development of this guide with the intention of providing a good pre-algebra foundation. The purposes of the guide are to recognize standards that involve the application of mathematical…

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…

The effect of item format on metacognitive and affective processes of children in a large-scale mathematics assessment program were studied. Results from 1032 eighth graders indicate that open-ended and multiple choice items have differential effects, although these did not vary substantially as a function of gender and ethnicity. (SLD)

This study attempts to detect the presence of either of 2 different categories of large-scale bias in 4 widely used mathematics achievement tests: induced bias and norming bias. Subjects were 407 eighth graders. (IAH)