Computer-scored, programmed test monitors student progress
Thomas A. Boyle · 1976
This paper introduces an achievement test format which, in combination with computer scoring, provides some unusual capabilities. The format is an adaptation of one used in programmed instruction. It enables a considerable degree of response contingency, yet is readily scored by computer in batch mode. Short achievement tests of this type, referred to here as branched-program tests, have demonstrated unusual diagnostic capability and inherent security. They thwart common forms of cheating, both by students and by teachers, and single tests of this type can be used several times during a term of related instruction. The unusual characteristics of this type of test have prompted administration in several modes; in one the test appears as an appendix to each student's textbook. Here the test effectively becomes the basis or specifying a principal goal of the learning to be done. Repeated administrations of the test serve to monitor each student's progress.