This test by Walter Tipton Markham (1885-1945) was published by Public School Publishing Company in 1928. Born in Iowa, Markham graduated from Campbell College in 1916, and went on to get his master’s degree in education from the University of Kansas. He would be appointed as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Kansas in December of 1932 and be elected to the post in 1934 and again in 1936, leaving office in January of 1939. During this time, he encouraged the use of testing across the curriculum in the Kansas schools.
The test consists of a list of one hundred twenty-five sentences, each of which contains one word that is highlighted. Next to each sentence are five words, each of which is numbered. Examinees were to select the word that was a synonym for the word in bold and write its number in a blank space provided.
References:
Markham, Walter Tipton, “English Vocabulary Tests for High School Pupils,” M.A. Thesis, University of Kansas, 1926.
Further information about Markham is available from the Kansas State Historical Society, accessed April 27, 2020.
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