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Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1 (1999)

Chapter: Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
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Appendices

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
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Appendix A Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT December 5–6, 1997

Panelists and Invited Participants

Joan Auchter, GED Testing Service

Stephen Dunbar, University of Iowa

Jeremy Finn, Temple University

Bert Green, John Hopkins University

John Guthrie, University of Maryland

Andy Hartman, The National Institute for Literacy

Bill Honig, San Francisco State University

Eugene Johnson, Boston College

Sylvia Johnson, Howard University

Patricia Kenney, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh

Jeremy Kilpatrick, University of Georgia

Stephen Klein, RAND

Mary Lindquist, Columbia State University

Peter Pashley, Law School Admission Council

Jack Stenner, Metametrics

David Thissen, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Other Participants

Donald Burdick, Metametrics

Mary Crovo, National Assessment Governing Board

Richard Durán, University of California, Santa Barbara (BOTA)

Christopher Edley, Jr., Harvard Law School (BOTA)

Steve Ferrara, American Institutes for Research

Ray Fields, National Assessment Governing Board

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
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Tom Fisher, National Assessment Governing Board

Adina Kole, U.S. Department of Education

Mark Kutner, American Institutes for Research

Archie LaPointe, American Institutes for Research

Sharon Lewis, Council of the Great City Schools

Robert Linn, University of Colorado (BOTA)

David Mandel, MPR Associates

Wayne Martin, Council of Chief State School Officers

John Olson, American Institutes for Research

Audrey Pendleton, U.S. Department of Education

Gary Phillips, U.S. Department of Education

Terry Salinger, American Institutes for Research

Sharif Shakrani, National Assessment Governing Board

Catherine Snow, Harvard University (BOTA)

Larry Snowhite, McA Enterprises

Holly Spurlock, U.S. Department of Education

Richard Stombres, Staff of Representative William Goodling

Kent Talbert, Staff of Representative William Goodling

William Taylor, Attorney at Law, Washington, D.C. (BOTA)

William Trent, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BOTA)

Roy Truby, National Assessment Governing Board

Jennifer Vranek, ACHIEVE

Kenneth Wolpin, University of Pennsylvania (BOTA)

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
×
Page 55
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
×
Page 56
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
×
Page 57
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Workshop on Item and Test Specifications for VNT." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of the Voluntary National Tests: Phase 1. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6324.
×
Page 58
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In his 1997 State of the Union address, President Clinton announced a federal initiative to develop tests of 4th-grade reading and 8th-grade mathematics that would provide reliable information about student performance at two key points in their educational careers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Voluntary National Tests (VNT) would create a catalyst for continued school improvement by focusing parental and community-wide attention on achievement and would become new tools to hold school systems accountable for their students' performance. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) has responsibility for development of the VNT. Congress recognized that a testing program of the scale and magnitude of the VNT initiative raises many important technical questions and requires quality control throughout development and implementation. In P.L. 105-78, Congress called on the National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate a series of technical issues pertaining to the validity of test items, the validity of proposed links between the VNT and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), plans for the accommodation and inclusion of students with disabilities and English-language learners, plans for reporting test information to parents and the public, and potential uses of the tests. This report covers phase 1 of the evaluation (November 1997-July 1998) and focuses on three principal issues: test specifications and frameworks; preliminary evidence of the quality of test items; and plans for the pilot and field test studies, for inclusion and accommodation, and for reporting VNT results.

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