Keynote papers from Delaware's first annual statewide conference on the education of children of limited English proficiency (LEP) are presented in this document. They include: "Delaware's Initiatives in the Education of Children of Limited English Proficiency" (William B. Keene); "Research and Issues in the Education of LEP…

The findings in evaluation and testing activities of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) during the 1981-82 school year are summarized. The first section, "1982 at a Glance," discusses the evaluation findings as a whole. Final reports and abstracts of related reports on achievement test results are presented for the district…

Descriptions and the summary results of each evaluation instrument used in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) for evaluation and testing in the 1981-82 school year are provided. The instruments considered include the Scholastic Aptitude Test, American College Test, Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, Sequential Tests of…

A one-parameter latent trait model was the basis of the test development procedures in the Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). Several issues are involved in applying the Rasch model to an assessment program in a large school district. Separate sets of skills continua are arranged by…

The New Jersey Educational Assessment Program was initiated in l972-73 school year to assess high school students' performance in the basic skill areas of reading and mathematics. The High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) will become part of the graduation requirement for the ninth grade class of 1985-86. This instrument is a more comprehensive…

Generalizability theory extends previous methods of estimating the reliability of rating instruments such that one can estimate the precision of a measurement system for differentiating among students, scales, or any other important dimension. In this study, generalizability theory is applied to faculty ratings of junior and senior dental students…

Specifying the purpose and uses to be made of a test prior to administration is of paramount importance when one considers the time administrators and teachers spend on selecting, developing, administering and scoring tests and the amount of student time required to complete the tests. Determination of how test results will be used should be made…

The final report of a demonstration project in individualized adult education in rural areas of Arkansas, which took place during the period of July 1974 through December 1975, is presented. Program goals included: (1) to recruit and retain rural male adults who are operating at less than a fourth grade educational level, with emphasis on the…

This study investigated the interaction between teacher background and student variables such as test scores, level of classroom activity and attention, race and socioeconomic class in determining teacher expectancies of reading abilities of first grade children. Participants were 48 female teachers from the South: 24 white and 24 black. The…

Evaluations of compensatory educational programs reveal that Black and Chicano school children do relatively less well the longer they remain in school. This investigation sought to determine the extent to which this regression is attributable to contemporary evaluation methodology. Analysis was conducted of the impact of standardized achievement…

Six evaluations of the elementary level social studies project The Family of Man are briefly described. In the first evaluation, conducted in Minnesota from 1967-69, taped interviews relating experimental and control group childrens' perceptions of other peoples were compared. Six major differences were noted between the groups, including an…

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…

The DATAWave is a bi-weekly publication of the Assessment Resource Office (ARO) at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). Its purpose is to inform the campus community and broader constituencies on assessment issues and practices at ENMU. The seven issues of winter and spring 1996 cover the following topics: (1) a preview of ARO activities,…

Issues in the misuse of standardized test scores are discussed. While information misuse is not a problem unique to testing, it is particularly prevalent. Information can be a source of power, and politically motivated uses of information explain part of the misuse of test scores. Other misuses have historical roots in the exaggerated claims of…

The report "UNO Act Class Profile, 1989-90" in the first of two serial issues presents salient parts of data from "The Class Profile Report" of the American College Testing (ACT) Corporation, which provides detailed information concerning the academic past of 1,359 freshmen entering the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in…