The state of the art of language testing in England is examined through the conference proceedings presented in this text. The nine chapters, written by individual authors, include discussion of the General Certificate of Education examinations, nonschool examinations, oral tests, research by examining boards, continuous assessment, and…

This report describes an experiment concerned with a possible relationship between the inability to learn basic educational skills, such as reading and writing, and the inability to organize incoming stimuli for communication purposes, in spite of adequate intellectual potential. The study had three main tasks. The first problem was to develop a…

Sex differences in variability in the national norms of the Differential Aptitude Tests, Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/Scholastic Aptitude Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales, and California Achievement Tests were examined. Compared to females, males were consistently more variable in quantitative reasoning, spatial visualization,…

Province-wide results from the Diploma Examinations Program of the Alberta (Canada) schools are presented for the three examinations of the entire 1991-92 school year (January, June, and August). The annual report also provides summaries of results by gender, for population subgroups, and for achievement-over-time studies. School marks,…

Results from North Carolina's End-of-Course Testing Program in 1989-90 are presented. Participation, student characteristics, and achievement are summarized, largely in table form, for the following subject areas: (1) Algebra I, (2) Geometry, (3) Algebra II, (4) Biology, (5) Chemistry, (6) Physics, (7) U.S. History, and (8) English I. Background…

Both on-level and out-of-level tests were administered to third and fifth grade children in order to compare the scaled scores of different level tests of the same testing program and to discover whether the relationship between levels might be distorted by ceiling or floor effects. Only reading tests were used in this study. The Stanford…

Examines the increase in popularity of objective testing in the United Kingdom and addresses some of the accompanying academic issues. Reports on a case study of test production and implementation to illustrate issues of time costs and benefits. Discusses question styles, marking schemes, and the problem of guesswork. (MJP)

Arkansas law requires that each student aged 7 through 16 years in a home school program be tested annually using a nationally recognized standardized test chosen by the students' parents from a list of tests approved by the state. Achievement for home schooled and public schooled students in Arkansas was compared for grades 4, 7, and 10 using 6…

The Behavior Analysis (BA) approach to Project Follow Through, a federally funded education intervention program, has reversed the trend of academic failure of poor children by improving the educational experience of poor children from 12 communities in the urban East, Midwest, rural South, and on Indian reservations in the West. The BA model is…

As part of a project on assessing deep understanding of subject matter, a study was conducted to assess students' knowledge of history by focusing on essay writing. Reading a provided text was incorporated into the assessment procedure. Ratings from five high school history teachers were compared with those of four English teachers for 85 essays…

This report provides an overview of the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) and summarizes students' average writing assessment scores from 1987 through 1992. Oklahoma has completed its 6th year of administering a state legislature mandated test to 10th graders and its 5th year of testing 7th graders. The Stanford Writing Assessment Program was…

This report provides an overview of the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) and summarizes students' average writing assessment scores from 1987 through 1993. In 1992, the Stanford Writing Assessment replaced the MAT-6 Writing Test as the instrument for measuring writing achievement for 7th and 10th graders in Oklahoma. Student papers were hand…

Concern was expressed for the possible effects of testing Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I students with norm-referenced tests that may be so difficult that many students will have scores in the chance range. The likelihood of such students obtaining equal scaled scores if they were tested with easier out-of-level tests was…

How students perceive standardized tests and routine classroom tests on subject matter units was studied by surveying 61 fifth-grade and 65 eighth-grade students in public schools in Michigan. It was hypothesized that older students would more often distinguish between the types of test and would be more cynical and less motivated than would…

This publication reports on student achievement in the basic skills of reading and mathematics at Years 5 and 7 in 52 urban schools of the Northern Territory of Australia in 1986, the third year of implementation of the Primary Assessment Program (PAP). PAP has been acknowledged by the national committee of the Australian Cooperative Assessment…