Whenever a major intelligence or achievement test is revised, there is always renewed interest in the underlying structure of the test as well as a renewed interest in the scoring, administration, and interpretation changes. In this interview, Amy Gabel discusses the most recent revision of the "Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth…

The article is a response to R. Maggiore's article "Reliability of Proposed Short Form of Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA)." The authors present evidence to rebut Maggiore's essentially negative conclusions regarding the reliability of the short form test. (For original paper, see EJ 194 153.) (Author/PHR)

The author traces reasons to support his contention that the state of the art in assessing learning disabled students is not good. Among issues examined are the following: use of tests for purposes other than those for which they were intended; technical adequacy of currently used tests (standardization, reliability, validity); the use of deficit…

Kinnealey reports on a study comparing tactile functions of 30 learning-disabled and 30 normal eight-year-olds as measured by the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests and the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery. Reliability and validity of the two measures were examined. Results showed a significant difference between the tactile…

The review of the Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2) raises concerns about alternate forms reliability, subtest reliability, content validity, and omissions. It concludes that the TOWL-2 is an expanded and greatly modified version of the original test but may not be appropriate for identifying a student's specific writing problems. (DB)

The article focuses on the controversy over norm-referenced v criterion-referenced measures (CRM) in assessment of learning disorders. The authors contend that while the reliability of CRMs is generally indisputable, the validity of measures designed from local curricula is still dependent on the intuitive judgments of teachers. (Author/SBH)

Twenty years of research on the Maze, a classroom-based reading measure for students with learning disabilities, is summarized. Overall, the research is supportive of the Maze. However, the most common version requires revision to obtain minimum construct validity, and additional research is needed on reliability and usefulness of alternate forms.…

Questions the results of an earlier study that found that accommodating instructional style to disadvantaged students' interaction patterns increases the students' achievement-related behavior. (AEA)