ABSTRACT
This chapter describes general considerations involved in test development and presents sample questions and tasks developed by the two committees convened by the Minnesota Board of Teaching in spring 1989. In developing prototypes for the Skills and Knowledge of Professional Educators performance assessments, it utilizes the model that is employed to construct performance test problems on the California Bar Examination. Minnesota's proposed test of teaching knowledge is intended to assess "common-core" knowledge that cuts across teaching fields and provides the intellectual glue that holds the field together. The knowledge committee was charged with the task of developing prototype questions in the area of human growth and development. The process of constructing task shells to exemplify particular skills and applied knowledge was made much easier by the statements of Minnesota's licensure standards in terms of desired abilities for secondary English and language arts teachers.
