Review questions

1. What are the eight strategies suggested in the chapter for fostering teacher cooperation in Criterion-referenced testing projects? How does each foster such cooperation?

2. Why is it particularly necessary to marshal adequate resources for a Criterion-referenced assessment project?

3. What are the steps in a Criterion-referenced assessment project? What will teachers need to do in a Criterion-referenced assessment project?

4. What is counterbalancing? How does it work? And why is it necessary?

5. Who should get feedback? And why? Why is it good for feedback to be viewed as two-way communication? What aspects of a Criterion-referenced assessment project can benefit from two-way feedback?

6. What can be done to keep students from wanting to fail on a Criterion-referenced pretest? What should be done with students who only take the pretest, especially with regard to item analysis statistics like the B index and difference index?

7. What are gain scores? What are some of the extraneous sources of gain that must be considered in interpreting gain scores? And, why are they a problem? How is the dependability of gain scores also a potential problem in interpreting them?

8. Why is it often necessary to sell Criterion-referenced assessments to colleagues?

9. What should be included in a report on a Criterion-referenced assessment project?

10. How should the report be organized?