The Chicago Public Schools have been developing and implementing a citywide instructional program of continuous progress/mastery learning in reading. It includes the delineation of a K-8 continuum of instructional objectives; a criterion-referenced testing program which serves as the basis for instruction, promotion, and administrative monitoring;…

This paper provides descriptive information about the implementation of prescriptive criterion referenced testing and its impact on a compensatory reading laboratory program in the Houston public schools. After describing the program and the rationale for the selection of a criterion referenced test, a study of the teachers' utilization of the…

This report includes the application for validation, the state review form, and the on-site validation form for a demonstration center based on a computer-managed system of reading instruction. The project seeks to provide locally constructed diagnostic tests, computer-indexed teaching materials, criterion-referenced tests, and periodic summaries…

The Michigan accountability system, based on statewide objectives-referenced testing at two grade levels generated considerable controversy, including this response to criticisms of an evaluation of the program by a panel of three persons. The contract under which the evaluation was performed is quoted to show that the authors of the report were…

Criterion referenced testing has received considerable theoretical, but only limited practical, application. Grand Forks School District has developed mathematics criterion referenced tests for grades three to nine. The tests are keyed to a hierarchical set of approximately 50 performance objectives and 40 individualized contracts per grade level.…

Two ESEA Title I evaluation models developed by the Resource Management Corporation (RMC), were field tested simultaneously with 560 Title I reading students, grades 2-8. Measuring instruments for models 1 and 2 were, respectively, the California Achievement Test (reading vocabulary section), a norm-referenced test; and the Tarmac Reading…

A brief paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual meeting (April 1977) describes the development, and analysis of the Instructional Management System (IMS) which is used in the Lansing elementary schools. The report is divided into three sections: a historical overview of the program, a description of IMS, and an…

This report of the Community Educational Aides in Open Space School project evaluates the role and function of educational paraprofessionals in open space schools, in this case the elementary-level Bruce-Monroe School in Washington, D.C. The project entailed the employment of 13 aides during the 1973-74 school year to assist 23 Bruce-Monroe…

The project discussed here was an outgrowth of a Title I, Elementary Seconoary Education Act cooperative project involving nine Arkansas school districts. Initiated during 1971-72 school year, the cooperative's first two years focused on developing and field testing procedures for conducting district wide assessment of needs, program planning, and…

An information feedback system for use in evaluating an educational program is described, and its effectiveness in evaluating the Follow Through program and its use in relation to the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are discussed. The systems approach to program evaluation consists of objectives clarification, decision making, and program planning. In…

Evaluation of ongoing educational programs must necessarily differ from the basic research design; it must change to meet the changes of the program and its environment. Over the three years of the operation of the Philadelphia "Let's Be Amigos" bilingual program, the kinds of data generated in the program evaluation have evolved in response to…

In 1980, the New York City Board of Education set reading standards that fourth- and seventh-grade students were required to achieve before being promoted. The Gates Program was established to provide remedial education to those students failing to meet the standards. A total of 15,705 students in the two grades failed to meet the standards in…

An experiment was performed to evaluate the tenability of the assumption in the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I proposed variance estimation procedures for criterion referenced tests. The assumption is that the ratio of the local to the national standard deviation for the national sample will be the same for the normed test as…

The results of a study which used the regression discontinuity model in the analysis of criterion-referenced test data are presented and inherent drawbacks in the use of the regression discontinuity model with this type of data are discussed. The discussion is based on the results of an analysis of data collected in the Mesa, Arizona School…

An evaluation system for use with Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I programs has been developed by RMC Research Corporation of Mountain View, California under contract with USOE. The system presently addresses cognitive achievement impact using three statistical designs, each of which may be implemented using either norm…