Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

Examinees who take high-stakes assessments are usually given an opportunity to repeat the test if they are unsuccessful on their initial attempt. To prevent examinees from obtaining unfair score increases by memorizing the content of specific test items, testing agencies usually assign a different test form to repeat examinees. The use of multiple…

Describes the examination of the effectiveness of oral vs. written testing in an undergraduate psychology course that was taught by the Keller method of instruction. (Editor)

Students were given practical tests in which they performed mathematical tasks, and written tests covering the same material. In general students scored higher on the practical test than the written test, and there were interaction effects with the order in which the tests were given and with verbal reasoning. (SD)

The administration of the National Test-Equating Study in Reading is described as part of a symposium on the study. After contacts with each of the State Departments of Education, district and LEA superintendents were asked to consider the participation of randomly selected schools within their jurisdictions. Upon receipt of approval, school…

The Fall, 1974 South Carolina Statewide Testing Program was administered to nearly all of South Carolina's fourth and seventh grade students and a sample of ninth and eleventh grade students participated in the testing program. There were 49,068 fourth graders, about 98 percent, and 53,662 seventh graders, about 99 percent, tested. A…

Raw scores on most standardized educational and psychological assessment instruments acquire meaning only when referenced to a set of norms. Test publishers should clearly describe their norming procedures, including the target population and the sample on which the norms are based. The primary purpose of this report is to illustrate some of the…

This paper reports on a pilot study conducted to determine the possible use of the cloze procedure as a substitute measure of achievement in a second-year Spanish culture and civilization class. Twenty students enrolled in a third-semester Spanish class at the University of Colorado were simultaneously given multiple choice tests and cloze tests…

The increased use of criterion-referenced statewide testing programs is an outgrowth of the need for more diagnostic information for planning and decision making than is provided by norm-referenced programs. There remains, however, a need for state agencies to compare the results of local districts to a variety of comparison groups for the purpose…