While many educators expect the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to be more rigorous than previous state standards, some wonder if the transition to CCSS and to a Common Core aligned MAP test will have an impact on their students' RIT scores or the NWEA norms. MAP assessments use a proprietary scale known as the RIT (Rasch unit) scale to measure…

The FAIR-FS consists of computer-adaptive reading comprehension and oral language screening tasks that provide measures to track growth over time, as well as a Probability of Literacy Success (PLS) linked to grade-level performance (i.e., the 40th percentile) on the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-10) in the…

Addressed the need to provide normative and psychometric data for the FIRO-BC questionnaire. Reported are the means, standard deviations, test-retest reliability coefficients, and interscale correlation coefficients. Data are reported separately for boys and girls (N=282). In addition, techniques of FIRO-BC data analyses are reviewed and…

Factors extracted from the normative samples of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Performance Scale (WISC PS), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Performance Scale (WISC-R PS), and Hiskey Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (HNTLA) are compared to factors emerging from deaf normative samples on these nonverbal intelligence…

In April 1986 the Congressional Budget Office issued a report, "Trends in Educational Achievement," which shows that the trend in rising standardized test scores began in the elementary grades in the mid-1970's and is not due to the current educational reform movements. (MD)

Adopting a new series of tests can raise student test scores. Scores can also be inflated by ensuring certain students do not take specific tests or by not counting some scores. Dramatic rises in standardized scores are likely to be accompanied by skepticism. (MD)

Special education tests evaluated by M. Thurlow and J. Ysseldyke with regard to technical adequacy were reevaluated using the same criteria. There was disagreement of 11 of the 30 tests used in both evaluations, demonstrating that current test standards are vague enough that experts disagree. (Author/CL)

Results of Part One of the American Association on Mental Deficiency Adaptive Behavior Scale completed for 77 deaf blind persons (3 to 21 years old) indicated that the ABS identified multidimensional aspects of behavior by deaf blind Ss. Its utility was greatly enhanced when norm-referenced, age-functioning levels were computed. (Author/CL)

The paper considers the appropriate and inappropriate use of estimated true scores for normative comparisons and concludes that for normative interpretations of individual scores and class averages, the use of estimated true scores or average estimated true scores is not recommended. (Author/DB)

To develop normative data for the revision of the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the scale was administered to 4,972 children, ages 6 to 19 years, representing all geographic regions of the United States. Reliability was satisfactory for all groups except Black females below age 12 years. (Author/BW)

To determine existing fitness levels of mentally retarded students in Illinois and to establish state fitness norms for mildly retarded, moderately retarded, and Down's syndrome students, 1,548 retarded individuals (4 to 64 years old) were given a seven item special physical fitness test battery. A percentile norm was constructed on all seven…

Discusses the necessity for the use of test score data in measuring school effectiveness. Outlines the types of tests best suited to particular schools. (MD)

Forty-six achievement tests were compared for content validity, criterion-related validity, reliability, and norms. Results show that more popular tests provide the user with technical data in the critical areas examined, although the information provided may be incomplete. (Author/MT)

This 1993 report is the second issue of the "State of the State--Education Performance in North Carolina," which monitors the health of North Carolina's education system as a whole and compares it to national and regional performance data. The first two sections define characteristics of North Carolina and its schools. Information about…

The first section of this manual provides information on the history of softball and the development of testing for proficiency in the game. The tests in the manual cover batting, fielding ground balls, overhand throwing, and baserunning. Test norms are listed for males and females at each grade level. A review is included of proper techniques and…