ERIC Number: ED266288
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1985-Jul
Pages: 20
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-0-8268-1203-6
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Adding an Essay to the GED Writing Skills Test: Reliability and Validity Issues. GED Testing Service Research Studies, Number 7.
Swartz, Richard; And Others
In preparation for adding an essay test to the General Educational Development (GED) test, the GED Testing Service undertook a series of studies to establish (1) whether acceptable reading reliabilities were attainable in decentralized holistic scoring sessions often involving no more than a dozen papers; (2) whether essay readers in a variety of locations, employing a variety or procedures, could consistently apply the same essay scoring standards (i.e., achieve scale stability); and (3) whether an essay would measure aspects of writing performance different from those currently measured by the multiple-choice test. The research studies involved the holistic scoring of essays written by more than 2,000 GED examinees from Washington, D.C., Iowa, and Maryland, and by a national sample of almost 4,000 high school seniors. Results indicate that acceptable levels of reading reliability are possible in decentralized scoring sessions. However, two studies of essay scoring scale stability yielded different results, demonstrating the need for additional monitoring techniques during scoring sessions to ensure that the score scale remains constant. To determine whether an essay represents a measure clearly different from the multiple-choice writing test, standard scores on the current GED Writing Skills (multiple-choice) test were correlated with holistic scores on an essay test. The extent of these correlations indicates that the two tests are measuring related but clearly different set of skills. The GED Testing Service plans to conduct additional research to identify the most effective methods for maintaining scoring scale stability in essay scoring sessions conducted in a variety of settings and to ensure that scores earned by students on different essay topics are comparable. (Author/KC)
Descriptors: Essay Tests, High School Equivalency Programs, Scoring, Test Reliability, Test Validity, Writing Evaluation, Writing Research, Writing Skills
GED Testing Service, American Council on Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 20, Washington, DC 20036 ($3.50).
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Numerical/Quantitative Data
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: American Council on Education, Washington, DC. General Educational Development Testing Service.
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: General Educational Development Tests
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A