This paper illustrates the application of existing guidelines to develop a test grounded in theoretical perspectives and empirical findings in the area of problem solving. By documenting this process, the paper outlines the challenges test developers face when seeking to construct a theory/research-driven test, discusses the decisions made at…

Our study compared the learning and motivational outcome of one educational approach in two different learning environments, a natural science museum and a classroom, drawing on studies about the effects of field trips on students' learning and motivation. The educational intervention consisted of an introduction phase in the classroom and…

Mathematical word problems represent a common item format for assessing student competencies. Automatic item generation (AIG) is an effective way of constructing many items with predictable difficulties, based on a set of predefined task parameters. The current study presents a framework for the automatic generation of probability word problems…

The paper gives an overview of multidimensional adaptive testing (MAT) and evaluates its applicability in educational and psychological testing. The approach of Segall (1996) is described as a general framework for MAT. The main advantage of MAT is its capability to increase measurement efficiency. In simulation studies conceptualizing situations…

Pupil monitoring systems support the teacher in tailoring teaching to the individual level of a student and in comparing the progress and results of teaching with national standards. The systems are based on the availability of an item bank calibrated using item response theory. The assessment of the students' progress and results can be further…

For decades traditional methods of testing have been criticized for saying relatively little reliably about students' ability as well as causing anxiety, which can negatively affect students' recall of learned information. The reform movement with its innovative approaches focusing on learner-centered education perceives assessment as an…

The Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA) is a faculty-developed, state-wide, high-stakes assessment of pre-service teachers' knowledge and application of research based literacy practices. The literacy faculty control all aspects of the test, including construction, refinement, administration, scoring and reporting. The test development…

History teachers (N=22) and their 11th-grade students (N=451) rated the importanceof four types of questions (verbatim, paraphrase, inference and skill items) by indicating the degree to which these questions were to be expected in an upcoming teacher-made test about a particular textbook chapter. In addition, teachers classified their actual…

Uses a framework previously developed to relate outcomes based education and B. Bloom's "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" to consider ways in which modern test theory can be used to connect aspects of assessment to the curriculum framework and to consider insights this connection might provide. (SLD)

Studied evaluation practices and the attitudes of teachers in the Netherlands toward these practices through a survey of 617 teachers and 214 principals. Findings show assessment routines to be strongly domain-dependent. Teachers have a preference for curriculum-embedded tests and the grading of work sheets above norm-referenced tests. Overall,…

Used data from a classroom-based performance assessment to document the impact of participation in a short-term educational program, the LinkUP! program. Participants were students in 32 classes in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The study provides an example of the use of classroom-based performance data for program evaluation purposes. (SLD)

Studied how students used feedback information provided them in distinctly framed portfolios of dossier, reflective, and learning-oriented types. Results with 137 college students support a view of portfolio construction in which the individual benefits from feedback were closely linked to the intentions present during collection of the portfolio…

Describes the lessons learned in the creation of a special assessment instrument, a large-scale survey of the language and literacy skills of linguistic minorities in England and Wales, findings of which were reported elsewhere. The test construction process was found to be highly empirical and inductive, based on trial and error rather than…

Developed seven Internet-delivered tests of prior knowledge for distance education students in the Netherlands interested in gaining information about future studies. Analysis of 151 responses received through the Web site showed student appreciation of the instruments and the assessment process. (SLD)

Describes the development of the performance assessment tasks of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The challenge was to produce tasks that would measure the achievement of curricular objectives while being sufficiently reliable to allow comparisons between countries and of groups within countries. (SLD)