Validation of assessments intended to improve instruction and learning should include evidence of instructional sensitivity. This study investigated the instructional sensitivity of a standards-based ninth-grade performance assessment that required students to write an essay about conflict in a literary work. Before administering the assessment,…

Examples of errors and excess wording found on examinations are given. Some suggestions for improvement are given. (RH)

Topics covered in these essays on testing in high school English are (1) the need for major literature tests to determine not factual recall but whether students are growing into rational and humane persons through their experiences with English; (2) the usefulness of pre-tests and re-tests, and the need to emphasize tests as a means of…

This summary for administrators describes the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), which are broadly based achievement tests for grades 9 through 12. The seven tests in the battery provide information about students' development in skills that are among the fundamental goals of secondary education. Emphasis is on the objectives that…