Date of Award

4-1993

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Eugene Thompson

Second Advisor

Dr. Zoe Barley

Third Advisor

Dr. Terre Davis

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether test sophistication training would result in more tenth grade students achieving performance levels on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) subtests in mathematics and reading which would entitle them to receive the state endorsed diploma.

Two groups of English II students (grade 10) from the same school participated in the study. One group received test sophistication instruction, and the other received no treatment. During the test sophistication training, students were instructed using the Ace That Test Preparation for Success Student Guide (Yarosz & Yarosz, 1991a) which was based on the areas of test wiseness that had been identified in the research as follows: motivation, time-on-task, learning by doing, reinforcement of learning, sharing of common problems and solutions by peers, and developing competence as a means of building confidence.

Secondary goals of the study were to determine if gender-related differences in achievement existed, and if there was an interaction effect between the type of group (instructed or not instructed) and gender, on achievement and self-reports of how the students performed on the reading test.

A sample of 46 tenth grade students from a rural Michigan school district was selected for this study. Students were members of two tenth grade English II classes, which were determined to be equivalent on measures of grade point average, the Verbal Reasoning subtest of the Differential Aptitude Test (1982), and the pre-test of the Ace That Test test sophistication training program. Both groups were given the Ace That Test Form EY post-test, and also took the MEAP tests of mathematics, story reading and informational reading. Both also completed the self-reports of performance, effort and interest on the story and informational reading tests.

The data analysis showed that students who experienced the test sophistication training scored significantly higher (p < .05) on the post-test of test sophistication than those students who had not experienced the training. No other significant results were found.

The findings of this study suggest that the MEAP test may not be subject to the influence of test sophistication training.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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