Tests of Adult Basic Education - Forms 5 and 6
(TABE, 1957-87)

Purpose: To measure reading, writing, and mathematics achievement.

Source: Publisher's Test Service, CTB/McGraw-Hill, 2500 Garden Road, Monterey CA 93940; (800) 538-9547.

Costs: The learner test booklets cost $1.62; answer sheets cost $.43.

Description: There are seven sections measuring vocabulary, reading comprehension, language mechanics, language expression, spelling, mathematical calculation, and mathematical concepts/application. There are four levels corresponding in difficulty to grades 2-4, 4-6, 6-8, and 8-12. A locator test is available for matching learner skill levels to test levels. There are two equivalent forms at each level.

Reliability, Validity, and Scores: Test-retest reliability is not reported in the manuals. Internal reliability has been high. Limited validity data are reported in the manuals. The scores on the TABE have correlated moderately with comparable scores on the GED. Scores can be reported as scale scores, percentiles, stanines, and grade equivalents. The norm data are based on 6,300 learners in 223 institutions across the country. Norms are reported separately for adult basic education learners, adult offenders, juvenile offenders, and vocational/technical school enrollees. Data in the Norms Book also permit prediction of GED scores, but should be treated as rough estimates because of the moderate correlations between the TABE scores and the GED scores. The Test Coordinator's Handbook reports the knowledge and type of cognitive skill covered by each test item.

Comments: The TABE is one of the most widely used tests in adult basic education programs. It was thoroughly revised in 1986. All the items are new, the range of skill levels that can be assessed has been extended, and the specific skills that are measured are more finely divided and identified.

However, the lowest level of the test will be daunting and frustrating for most students with less than grade 3.0 skills. For instance, the first reading exercise uses a 150-word passage.Though the items are adult in content, they seem to this reviewer distinctly middle class and academic in orientation. Only a modest portion of them are about everyday events in the lives of low-income adults. For instance, in the grade 4-6 level booklet (Form 5M), only two of the eight reading passages are about experiences common to such learners. Of the 40 items on math concepts and application there is only one item on calculating the correct change for a given transaction, no item on the savings from bulk purchases, and no item on the total cost of a purchase with installment plan financing charges. The language sections are notable for focusing on paragraph construction as well as sentence structure.

This test assesses an unusually broad range of skills. Therefore, giving the full TABE takes about 4.5 hours. For this reason, many programs use only one or two sections for pre- and post-testing.