Individualized Educational Assessment: Twelfth-Grade Science

The goals, principles, and methods of an individualized educational assessment are described as implemented in a 12th-grade science assessment instrument undergoing field trials in Ohio. Pilot tests were planned for December 1990 and March and April 1991. The assessment design incorporates the duplex design of R. D. Bock and R. J. Mislevy (1988) and two-stage testing made possible by computer technology. The first-stage test booklet, which is designed to be administered in February of the school year, consists of a student questionnaire and a 20-item pretest to give a rough idea of the student's level of science preparation. A second-stage form of the test, which is designed to be administered in late March or early April of the school year, is to be assigned to the student based on the level of preparation apparent. The duplex design instrument is intended for scoring on item response theory scales at the student and school levels. Laboratory performance tests have been developed and tested to form part of the student assessment. Currently, there are six exercises in each of four areas: general science, biology, chemistry, and physics. Each exercise requires 80 minutes of laboratory work. Three references are listed, and one table presents the assessment content-by-process item classification. (SLD)