Obtained reading grade levels for depression scales by use of two empirically based readability formulae. Results showed Kovacs children's measure had the easiest reading level, the General Behavior Inventory was appropriate for college-level reading, and most other measures clustered at a fifth- to ninth-grade reading level. (WAS)

The passage comprehensibility of three diagnostic reading tests--the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales, and the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty--was evaluated using the following text variables: content familiarity, vocabulary, the number of idea units in the text, the number of text-based inferences…

Examples are provided that show readability in action in diverse settings. The first shows how readability analysis resulted in a new fluency monitoring protocol in three school districts in Northern California. The others present hypothetical school, clinic, and research situations that a speech language pathologist might encounter. (Author/CR)

Reports on a study that examined the readability of a selection of C. S. E. papers taken from six subject areas. Found that, with the exception of that given in history, the exams did not make excessive demands on the candidates' reading skills. (FL)

All of the measures require greater reading capability than tests like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory that are designed for use with diverse clinical populations. Unfortunately, some important measures based on promising social-learning conceptualizations of marital conflict were among the more difficult. (Author)

Confirms that in cloze testing, it is unnecessary to use standard size spaces and reveals a high correlation between synonymic scoring and verbatim scoring. Indicates also that a specific probability concepts test is comprehensible and readable by the great majority of students for whom it was devised. (FL)

Reports on a study in which passages from children's literature were prepared using cloze and presented to college and elementary school students. Reveals that neither group of students did well on the task. Questions the desirability of using cloze for matching readers to creative writing. (FL)

An experiment investigated the effects of the instruction rubric at the beginning of an examination paper and of the format of the examination questions themselves. A history test whose questions originally differed widely in format was modified so that its rubric was as clear and concise as possible and all the short answer questions were of the…

Reading selections from six Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) administered from 1947 to 1975 were analyzed to determine whether a decrease in the difficulty level of elementary and secondary textbooks, workbooks, and teachers' guides corresponded with the SAT score decline. Various indices of reading difficulty and challenge were used. Readability…