NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, selfperpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
The study was supported by Contract/Grant No. RJ97184001 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
This report is available on line at http://www.nap.edu
Printed in the United States of America
Copyright 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
COMMITTEE ON THE EVALUATION OF THE VOLUNTARY NATIONAL TESTS, YEAR 2
LAURESS L. WISE(Chair),
Human Resources Research Organization, Alexandria, Virginia
ADRIENNE BAILEY,Consultant,
Chicago, Illinois
THOMAS COONEY,
Department of Mathematics Education, University of Georgia
JOHN T. GUTHRIE,
Department of Human Development, University of Maryland
ANNE HAFNER,
Charter School of Education, California State University, Los Angeles
ROBERT M. HAUSER,
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
VONDA L. KIPLINGER,
Colorado Department of Education, Denver
MARJORIE Y. LIPSON,
Department of Education, University of Vermont
ALFRED MANASTER,
Department of Mathematics, University of California, San Diego
NANCY S. PETERSEN,
ACT, Inc., Iowa City, Iowa
RICHARD J. NOETH,Study Director
JUDITH A. KOENIG,Program Officer
KIMBERLY D. SALDIN,Senior Project Assistant
BOARD ON TESTING AND ASSESSMENT
ROBERT L. LINN(Chair),
School of Education, University of Colorado
CARL F. KAESTLE(Vice Chair),
Department of Education, Brown University
RICHARD C. ATKINSON, President,
University of California
PAUL J. BLACK,
School of Education, King's College, London, England
RICHARD P. DURÁN,
Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara
CHRISTOPHER F. EDLEY, JR.,
Harvard School of Law, Harvard University
RONALD FERGUSON,
John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy, Harvard University
PAUL W. HOLLAND,
Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley
ROBERT M. HAUSER,
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
RICHARD M. JAEGER,
School of Education, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
LORRAINE McDONNELL,
Departments of Political Science and Education, University of California, Santa Barbara
BARBARA MEANS,
SRI International, Menlo Park, California
KENNETH PEARLMAN,
Lucent Technologies, Inc., Warren, New Jersey
ANDREW C. PORTER,
Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison
CATHERINE E. SNOW,
Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR, Attorney at Law,
Washington, D.C.
WILLIAM T. TRENT, Associate Chancellor,
University of Illinois, Champaign
VICKI VANDAVEER,
The Vandaveer Group, Inc., Houston, Texas
LAURESS L. WISE,
Human Resources Research Organization, Alexandria, Virginia
KENNETH I. WOLPIN,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
MICHAEL J. FEUER,Director
VIOLA C. HOREK,Administrative Associate
LISA D. ALSTON,Administrative Assistant
Acknowledgments
This project would not have been possible without the generosity of many individuals and the contributions of several institutions.
Staff from the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), under the leadership of Roy Truby, executive director, and the NAGB prime contractor, the American Institutes for Research (AIR), with Steve Ferrara and Archie LaPointe's guidance, were a valuable source of information and data on the design and development of the voluntary national tests (VNT). Sharif Shakrani, Steve Gorman, Raymond Fields, Mary Lyn Bourque, and Mary Crovo of NAGB and Steve Klein, Clayton Best, Ruth Childs, and Terry Salinger of AIR provided us with important information on numerous occasions. We benefited tremendously by attending and learning from discussions at meetings of the National Assessment Governing Board and meetings of its contractors; we thank them for opening their meetings to us and for sharing their knowledge and perspectives. We extend thanks to the staff of the cognitive laboratories and of Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement and Riverside Publishing for access to important information and their perspectives throughout the course of our work.
We relied heavily on the input and advice of a cadre of testing and disciplinary experts, who provided helpful and insightful presentations at our workshops: Pamela Beck, University of California; Jeffrey Choppin, Benjamin Banneker Academic High School; Gretchen Glick, Defense Manpower Data Center; Anna Graeber, University of Maryland; Rosemarie Montgomery, Hatboro, Pennsylvania; Gale Sinatra, University of Utah; John Tanner, Delaware Department of Education; and Catherine Yohe, Williamsburg Middle School. Our work was enriched by the stimulating intellectual exchange at the meeting and item quality workshop to which they contributed greatly.
Carolyn Harris, Gene Hoffman, Sunny Sipes, Don Smith, and Art Thacker of Human Resources Research Organization provided important help and perspective throughout. They attended and reported on workshops, cognitive laboratories, bias review sessions, public hearings, and were valuable members of the evaluation team.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the
National Research Council (NRC). The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Philip C. Curtis, Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles; Paul W. Holland, Graduate School of Education and Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley; Lyle V. Jones, L.L. Thurston Psychometric Laboratory, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Michael J. Kolen, College of Education, University of Iowa; Henry W. Riecken, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center (emeritus); and Sheila W. Valencia, College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle.
Although the individuals listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
We are grateful to the many individuals at the National Research Council who provided guidance and assistance at many stages of the evaluation and during the preparation of the report. Barbara Torrey, executive director of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (CBASSE), helped and encouraged our work throughout. We are especially grateful to Eugenia Grohman, associate director for reports of CBASSE, for her advice on structuring the content of the report, for her expert editing of the manuscript, for her wise advice on the exposition of the report's main messages, and for her patient and deft guidance through the NRC report process.
We also are immensely grateful to Stephen Baldwin, Lee Jones, Patricia Morison, and Meryl Bertenthal, staff of the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA), who made valuable contributions to our research and report. We express our gratitude to NRC administrative staff Viola Horek and Lisa Alston. We are especially grateful to Kimberly Saldin, who capably and admirably managed the operational aspects of the evaluation—arranging meeting and workshop logistics, producing multiple iterations of drafts and report text, and being available to assist with our requests, however large or small.
We recognize the special contributions of Michael Feuer, BOTA director, and Karen Mitchell, senior program officer. Michael guided the project and, most important, made frequent contributions to the discussion and the framing of our questions and conclusions. Karen was a principal source of expertise in both the substance and process of the evaluation, and she provided continuous liaison between us and the staff of NAGB and AIR.
Lauress Wise, Richard Noeth, and Judith Koenig, Editors
Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests, Year 2