Adding an Essay to the GED Writing Skills Test [microform] : Reliability and Validity Issues. GED Testing Service Research Studies, Number 7 / Richard Swartz and Others.
In preparation for adding an essay test to the General Educational Development (GED) test, the GED Testing Service undertook a series of studies to establish (1) whether acceptable reading reliabilities were attainable in decentralized holistic scoring sessions often involving no more than a dozen p...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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1985.
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| Summary: | In preparation for adding an essay test to the General Educational Development (GED) test, the GED Testing Service undertook a series of studies to establish (1) whether acceptable reading reliabilities were attainable in decentralized holistic scoring sessions often involving no more than a dozen papers; (2) whether essay readers in a variety of locations, employing a variety or procedures, could consistently apply the same essay scoring standards (i.e., achieve scale stability); and (3) whether an essay would measure aspects of writing performance different from those currently measured by the multiple-choice test. The research studies involved the holistic scoring of essays written by more than 2,000 GED examinees from Washington, D.C., Iowa, and Maryland, and by a national sample of almost 4,000 high school seniors. Results indicate that acceptable levels of reading reliability are possible in decentralized scoring sessions. However, two studies of essay scoring scale stability yielded different results, demonstrating the need for additional monitoring techniques during scoring sessions to ensure that the score scale remains constant. To determine whether an essay represents a measure clearly different from the multiple-choice writing test, standard scores on the current GED Writing Skills (multiple-choice) test were correlated with holistic scores on an essay test. The extent of these correlations indicates that the two tests are measuring related but clearly different set of skills. The GED Testing Service plans to conduct additional research to identify the most effective methods for maintaining scoring scale stability in essay scoring sessions conducted in a variety of settings and to ensure that scores earned by students on different essay topics are comparable. (Author/KC) |
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| Item Description: | Availability: GED Testing Service, American Council on Education, One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 20, Washington, DC 20036 ($3.50). ERIC Note: For a related document, see CE 043 578. ERIC Document Number: ED266288. |
| Physical Description: | 20 pages |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
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