W. James Popham

Deep Dark Deficits of the Adversary Evaluation Model

As a spectator attraction, competition is hard to beat. Whether it’s a courtroom drama or a sporting event, we thrill as the contest totters in favor of one side, then the other. Perhaps it’s the uncertainty of the outcome that fascinates us. But whatever the appeal, it’s quite clear that ancient folks, like present-day ones, got genuinely excited by competitive events. The athletic contests of antiquity, whether Greek, Roman, or Mayan, were capable of drawing standing-room-only audiences.

Tape recorded lectures in the college classroom — II

SummaryAn experiment was carried out which contrasted the effectiveness of a conventional instructional methodversus a method based upon tape recorded lectures plus student-led discussions. Subjects for the pilot experiment were 36 students enrolled in a pre-service teacher education course at San Francisco State College. The conventionally-taught section was instructed by a standard lecturediscussion approach. The tape-taught section listened to hour-long taped lectures, and discussed the content of the lectures with the assistance of a student discussion leader. After the initial meeting of the semester, the instructor had no contact with the tape-taught class. On the basis of group performance on several criterion measures, no significant differences between the conventionallytaught and the tape-taught students were found. It was concluded that the instructional technique featuring taped lectures was effective.

The 1978 Annual Meeting Presidential Debate: The Case For Criterion-Referenced Measurements:

Proposition One: For Purposes of instruction or evaluation, normreferenced achievement tests are essentially worthless. This indictment extends not only to poorly constructed norm-referenced achievement tests, but also to the very best members of this well-established measurement genre. Proposition Two: Criterionreferenced achievement tests, if they are pro¡rerly fashioned, can be of enormous utility to instructors and evaluators. The issues at stake in this dispute are far more profound than is sometimes evident in theoretical disagreements between academicians. Indeed, the decisions resulting from the application of educational tests are of paramount human import. In well over half of our 50 states, students are now obliged to display minimum competence prior to receiving a high school diploma. In most of these states, this means that high school graduates must pass a test of some sort. In instances where the wrong tests are used, and incorrect decisions are made, the self-esteem of thousands of young people will be seriously damaged, perhaps irreparably. There are also scores of decisions currently being made regarding whether to retain, revise, or scrap particular educational programs. In many instances these decisions are reached, in part, on the basis of test results. If the wrong tests are used and the wrong programs are scrapped, then countless pupils will be robbed of an effective instructional program. Clearly, the issue under analysis is more than theoretical. But before trotting out the arguments and evidence that I hope will convince you of the soundness of my two major propositions, it is necessary to engage in a bit of stagesetting. We need to define a few terms and to retrospect briefly in order to see why this debate with my good friend and esteemed colleague, Robert L. Ebel, is even necessary.

Uses and Misuses of Standardized Tests

Examines five tests by three publishers currently used in high schools today, and discusses four appropriate and inappropriate uses of these tests. Asserts that assessment literacy on behalf of educators is essential in order to avoid the misuse of standardized tests.

Value of pictorial embellishments in a tapeslide instructional program

RELEVANT RESEARCH An increasing emphasis on product research in education has raised many basic questions concerning the nature of stimulus properties needed for effective instructional materials. For instance, many decisions must be made by an individual who wishes to use visual materials in a programed instruction sequence. There is little clear evidence to guide his choices in the practical problems of what and how much to include in pictorial presentations. Should plain printed titles be employed or should verbal material be supplemented with illustrations and other embellishments? The investigation described herein attempted to assess the merits of pictorial embellishments in programed teaching materials. This assessment focused on affective criteria rather than the usually employed cognitive criterion measures. In most studies conducted to test the value of pictorial embellishments, the criterion has been cognitive and results have been mixed. Lumsdaine and Gladstone (2) reported an investigation in which, on a paired associate learning task, a simple printed visual treatment was compared with cartooned visuals supplemented by humorous comments and sound effects. Results favored

Methodologic problems in the evaluation of self-management programs

Two conceptions of program evaluation, namely, evaluation-as-proof and evaluation-as-improvement, are considered. Evaluation for purposes of program improvement of health-related programs is recommended. Recent advances in assessment of program outcomes, particularly criterion-referenced measurement, are described. Recommendations are also offered regarding treatment definition, data-gathering designs, cost analysis, and the collaborative conduct of health-related evaluations.

The Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory as an Index of General Teaching Competence

Tun value of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) as a measure of the type of social atmosphere a teacher will maintain in the classroom has been supported by a number of validity studies (Cook, Leeds & Callis, 1951; Stein & Hardy, 1957). Results of a recent investigation (Standlee & Popham, 1959) indicate that the predictive uses of the MTAI may be extended so that it can be utilized not only as an index of teacher-pupil rapport, but also as a measure of over-all teaching effectiveness.

Preparing Policymakers for Standard Setting on High-Stakes Tests

Those individuals who must establish passing standards for important tests typically do so with little or no standard-setting experience. Given the significant impact of the standards set on high-stakes tests, it is contended in this essay that formal preparation should be given to policymakers for their standard-setting tasks. Ten factors relevant to the standard-setting decision are proposed as potential substance for a standard-setting preparation program. It is also recommended that media representatives be given an abbreviated preparation session dealing with essentials of the standard-setting process.

The right test for the wrong reason

The tests we use to evaluate student achievement may well be sound measures of what students know, but they are faulty indicators at best of how well they have been taught. A remedy to this this situation of judging teachers by the performance of their students on high-stakes tests may be in hand already. We should look to the methods successfully used to eliminate testing bias when it was first discovered as pertaining to gender and racial groups.

The Performance Test: A New Approach to the Assessment of Teaching Proficiency

There is no necessity to document the need for reliable measures of teaching proficiency. In almost unlimited instances, educators, particularly teacher educators, could profit enormously if valid indices of teaching effectiveness were available. It is partly because of this tremendous need that one despairs when surveying the advances made by researchers who have worked in the area of teacher-com-