The evaluation of gifted programs is examined in terms of setting group and individual goals, measurement problems (validity, reliability, precision, ceiling effect, and overtesting), comparison groups (national norms or pre- and posttesting), and implementing evaluation strategies. (DB)

This study examined the scores obtained by 21 elementary-level gifted students on 4 different intellectual measures--Stanford-Binet (LM), Stanford-Binet (Fourth Edition), Otis-Lennon School Abilities Test, and the Cognitive Abilities Test. Results showed that the population of gifted students identified will vary greatly depending upon which test…

Reviews studies focusing on practical assessment in science. Areas considered include what students are really doing in laboratories, how practical skills should be assessed, methods used to assess practical science (such as internal/external examinations and continuous assessment), methodological issues, and reasons for the failure of some…

A culture-specific approach to identifying artistic talent in African-American students is presented, called Tactuality. Tactuality identifies four characteristics: emotional intensity, flexibility and open-endedness, holistic perception, and tactile sensitivity. A pilot test with 63 fourth graders resulted in statistical problems with validation.…

Coordination between research and practice in performance appraisal is essential. Specifically, researchers should focus on utilization methods while practitioners should focus on appraisal content. Cognitive process research may increase raters' ability to judge accurately but fails to address raters' willingness to provide accurate ratings. (BL)

These concluding comments on the series of articles introduced by Linda Siegel's paper (EC221505) summarize the bases for disputing the utility of intelligence tests. The learning disabilities field's resistance to abandoning use of Intelligence Quotient tests is also acknowledged, and improved assessment measures and further research are called…

This letter reports on a research study in which five students (initially identified as severely mentally retarded and/or autistic) were tested with and without the use of facilitated communication while facilitators were prevented from hearing the test questions. Positive results for four of the students raise issues about accurate educational…

This commentary on the mismeasurement of language and reading comprehension abilities argues that quantitative measures of complex behaviors and subsequent ranking of individual performance often do not accurately reflect the abstract constructs they purport to measure, and inappropriate quantification and ranking create and perpetuate potentially…

Examines the impact of online systems designed to be searched by end users on the process of database and product evaluation. Two testing methods, beta tests and user surveys, are evaluated, and possible solutions to testing problems are suggested. (CLB)

This article discusses issues and difficulties encountered in efforts at the University of Birmingham (England) to standardize a new psychometric assessment tool, a tactile speed-of-information-processing test for children with blindness. The problem of defining the population on which the test is standardized is seen as particularly difficult.…

Reasons why there are few incentives for test publishers to make significant innovations in what is tested or how it is tested are given. A brief discussion of research on growth spurts in the brain, hemispheric differences, and other neurological phenomena is followed by a discussion of some conclusions drawn from this work. While skepticism is…

On July 8, 9 and 10, 1981 the National Institute of Education (NIE) sponsored a "hearing" on minimum competency testing (MCT). The hearing, which was to clarify issues related to MCT, was modeled after adversarial and judicial evaluation approaches. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory was responsible for the overall evaluation…

In circumstances where judges are required to make ratings of performance, it is usually required to have two or more raters who are trained to agree on independent ratings of the same performance. It is suggested that such a requirement may produce the paradox of attenuation associated with item analysis, in which too high a correlation between…

Because eligibility for speech-language services often is based on the relationship between the child's cognitive ability and language performance, this study examined the agreement of measurement practices used in the cognitive referencing model of eligibility determination. Administration of 5 measures to 26 preschool children with delayed…

This review of the Test of Early Written Language concludes that the test succeeds in identifying students who are below their peers in writing and in measuring long-term gains in written language achievement; but its format makes it difficult to document specific strengths and weaknesses and its reliability; and validity have not been…