Designed to give middle school teachers some of the tools necessary to prepare their students to do well on the performance based Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), this booklet provides released items from the 1997-1998 MAP Communication Arts test. MAP consists of three reading passages followed by constructed-response items, a formal writing…

Designed to give high school teachers some of the tools necessary to prepare their students to do well on the performance based Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), this booklet provides released items from the 1997-1998 MAP Communication Arts test. MAP consists of three reading passages followed by constructed-response items, a formal writing…

This report is designed for educators who are involved in teaching, developing, or evaluating curriculum in the middle and junior high schools. It describes the content and application of Florida's eighth grade writing test, and it offers suggestions that might be helpful in preparing students for the assessment. The 1990 Florida legislature…

The effectiveness of the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE) as an aid in placing students into introductory English courses was studied by relating test scores to course outcomes for students entering the University of Houston between the fall of 1977 and the spring of 1981. For students placed into the regular introductory English…

Examines how English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students choose a prompt from several options on a timed-writing exam. Researchers interviewed 26 students after observing them taking a writing exam. Findings indicate that students' background knowledge, question type, and topic specificity influence their decision and that time is not an…

The influences of writing tasks and gender on the quality of student writing of black and white eighth graders were examined. Data from statewide writing assessments of 170,899 Georgia students indicated both writing tasks and student characteristics were significant predictors of writing quality. There were both racial and gender differences. (SM)

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) contains a direct writing assessment, and examinees are given the option of composing their responses at a computer terminal using a keyboard or composing their responses in handwriting. This study sought to determine whether performance on a direct writing assessment is comparable for examinees…

Presented at the Annual National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores how different item weighting can affect the effective weights, validity coefficents and test reliability of composite scores among test takers.

The purpose of this action research study was to explore possibilities for scaffolding academic language and historical thinking for non-native English speaking students in two middle school classrooms. The teaching approach focused on six dimensions of historical thinking: background knowledge, cause, effect, bias, empathy, and application. The…

In an effort to determine the correlation between assessment placement test scores and grade point average (GPA), a study was conducted at Terra State Community College (TSCC), in Ohio. A sample population was constructed of 93 potential students who took the American College Testing Service Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET)…

This document tabulates extensive and detailed information about the assessment programs of each state. It is the third edition of the database and remains the single best source for information about the student assessments that states conduct. The database is compiled from a survey completed by state directors of assessment. The first section of…

Proper placement of students into either remedial writing or Composition I can be crucial to their success in higher education. Using a database of nearly 6,000 students who entered an open admissions community college in Texas, the researchers attempted to discover the best predictor of student success in Composition I. For students who took a…

California's College of the Canyons has used the College Board Assessment and Placement Services (APS) test to assess students' abilities in basic and college English since spring 1993. These two reports summarize data from a May 1994 study of the predictive validity of the APS writing and reading tests and a June 1994 effort to validate the cut…

As part of the mandate of the Alberta Government's Student Evaluation Branch to monitor changes in student achievement, the Humanities Diploma Examinations Unit compared the written work from 1984 and the 1990 English 30, Social Studies 30, and English 33 Canadian provincial diploma examinations. Full-length essays written by over 30,000 students…

A study examined the responses of 10 students taking Miami University's 1990 College Composition Proficiency Exam which asked students to evaluate their own learning experiences with teaching, learning, and knowledge in and out of school. Scores ranged from 2 to 12; all 10 of the examined essays received a score of 11. Five students were male, and…