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…

Examined 6 widely used grade-8 standardized tests for content, required processes, and level to determine their alignment with the 5-8 NCTM "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards." Concluded that these tests inadequately covered the 5-8 standards. A follow-up study examined items from newly developed and foreign tests to demonstrate the…

The transition from paper-based to computer-based assessment raises a number of important issues about how mode might affect children's performance and question answering strategies. In this project 104 eleven-year-olds were given two sets of matched mathematics questions, one set on-line and the other on paper. Facility values were analyzed to…

For several decades, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) held the preeminent role in measuring student and school performance in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Illinois. In the context of the No Child Left Behind act and new calls for accountability, the CPS has decided to include results from the Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) in…

This paper provides an historical perspective on the content of the SAT. The review begins at the beginning, when the first College Board SAT (the Scholastic Aptitude Test) was administered to 8,040 students on June 23, 1926. At that time, the SAT consisted of nine subtests: Definitions, Arithmetical Problems, Classification, Artificial Language,…

Described are important changes that will be introduced in the mathematics sections of the new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The three main changes are (1) permission to use calculators; (2) inclusion of open-ended questions; and (3) content revisions consistent with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics "Curriculum and Evaluation…

The effects of problem content on mathematics word problem performance were explored for 128 male and 128 female college students solving problems with masculine, feminine, and neutral (familiar and unfamiliar) cover stories. No effect of sex typing was found, and a small, but highly significant, effect was found for familiarity. (SLD)

Differential item functioning on 6 forms of the Scholastic Aptitude Test was examined for 181,228 male and 198,668 female students focusing on the points tested, the test format, and subject matter in which items are embedded. Implications of the identifiable differences are discussed. (SLD)

Presented is a summary of the actions taken by American College Testing in response to calls for reform in standardized testing. The areas of reform discussed are test development, test content, skills levels, test criteria, and new testing initiatives, such as alternative-response-format questions and calculator use. (MDH)

The major goal of this study is to apply the essential unidimensionality statistic of W. Stout and the corresponding computer program (DIMTEST) to a hierarchical level mathematics achievement data set and to determine the extent to which the undimensional assumption can be accurately applied to mathematics achievement data. The study also…

The validity of teachers' reports of students' instructional experiences (content exposure or coverage) and content validity of a given course were studied by examining the consistency of reported content coverage for teachers across two consecutive years (1988 and 1989). In addition, the sensitivity of the test to instruction was examined by…

Issues related to linking tests with constructed response items were explored, specifically by comparing single-group and anchor-test designs to link raw scores from alternate forms of performance-based student assessments in the context of Delaware's assessment program using performance-based assessment. This study explored use of the two test…

At the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the call for all students to be "proficient" in reading and mathematics by 2014. Yet the law expects each state to define proficiency as it sees fit and design its own tests. This study investigated three research questions related to this policy: (1) How consistent are various…

Classroom tests developed by seventh- and eighth-grade science teachers (n=23) and mathematics teachers (n=18) were analyzed by panels of content and measurement experts. The 41 participating teachers, each of whom contributed 2 tests, completed a questionnaire, an interview, and 2 measures of competence in testing. Teachers used all major item…

We describe the item modeling development and evaluation process as applied to a quantitative assessment with high-stakes outcomes. In addition to expediting the item-creation process, a model-based approach may reduce pretesting costs, if the difficulty and discrimination of model-generated items may be predicted to a predefined level of…