Because testing, in many different forms, currently plays such an important role in education, Elementary Secondary Education Act, Title I, the Division of Federal Assistance in the Vermont State Department of Education, prepared this brochure to present a general introduction to terms and phrases commonly used in testing and to highlight some of…

This booklet is planned to help teachers, parents, students, and community members to understand concepts and research relating to testing in public schools. Three general uses--public access, accountability, and standards--relate to testing in its broadest conception. The major purposes of tests are discussed, as are some different types of…

A group of 105 lower-lower middle class kindergarten children were tested on a set of single variable classification tasks and related-component tasks dealing with color and number. Children who failed to reach criterion on the classification test were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups, stratified on the basis of performance on…

As an alternative to a classical test theory basis for criterion-referenced test construction, it is proposed that a strict item-sampling model be used. The computer's role in such a model is outlined. The assumptions of the model are carefully defined and its properties reviewed. The relationship between mastery criteria and such sampling plans…

While the usefulness of branched testing over conventional paper-and-pencil testing has been in doubt, particularly for the student of average ability, this has been with reference to normative measures rather than the criterion-referenced measures characteristic of individualized instruction. A computer-assisted test model for assessing an…

Some of the general considerations and requirements for the establishment of a testing policy and procedures for a large education system are presented. Testing policy is considered necessary to establish a common understanding of the position of testing in the education program, the facilitation of the use of tests for academic gain, and to…

Student learning is a complex incremental cognitive process; assessment needs to parallel this, reporting the results in similar terms. Application of fuzzy sets and logic to the criterion-referenced assessment of student learning is considered here. The constrained qualitative assessment (CQA) system was designed, and then applied in assessing a…

Designed to help school administrators and board members promote instructional excellence, this publication reports survey results involving over 35 school districts in Northern California, Utah, and Nevada engaged in instructional improvement efforts. Specifically, the report describes alternative strategies used to organize and manage three…

The SCOPE test battery has been developed by the Department of Education so that Northwest Territories teachers can have a tool to measure classroom learning. SCOPE is based on a criterion-referenced approach to testing, meaning the tests are designed to determine each pupil's mastery of the skills embodied in the objectives of the Northwest…

Open testing and test disclosure legislation has fostered a renewed interest in the problems and issues associated with test equating. This paper focuses on a specific application of test equating, that of professional and occupational testing for certification and licensure. Test equating is the process of making test scores from different forms…

This paper presents an evaluation of Army job training development and testing practices, with a focus on Advanced Individual Testing. Information comes from intensive interviews with school instructors and from observations in the schools. Results indicate that some aspects of the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) model have been…

As part of the Quality Assurance procedures, a final test was administered to a sample of the classes participating in the 1970-71 Instructional Concepts Program (ICP). The posttest was designed to measure end-of-program performance on each of the six program outcomes: Color, Shape, Size, Position, Amount, and Pre-Mathematics. This report…

Confusion has arisen because tests are described as criterion-referenced or norm-referenced. Generally, these terms should apply to scores and not to tests since either type of score may be obtained for any test. Various terms such as absolute scores, fixed-standard scores and mastery-test scores may be more appropriate substitutes for…

This report provides additional detail on the problems of test and measurement and cost analysis associated with performance contracting programs. The guide, addressed to school board members, administrators, and other educational decisionmakers who may be contemplating a performance contracting program, delineates the questions, issues, and…

Summarizing work which is part of an Army research program on Methodological Issues in the Construction of Criterion Referenced Tests, the focus of this paper is on a Bayesian model, which gives the probability of correctly classifying an examiner as a master or as a nonmaster while taking into consideration the test length and the mastery cut-off…