A survey of principals and second- and fifth-grade teachers in 25 Puerto Rican schools reveals that (1) they value and use reading tests; (2) province and district-wide reading assessments primarily affect curriculum decisions; (3) the generally accepted goals of testing programs are being met; and (4) their attitudes are similar to educators…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether greater retention of knowledge and more effective comprehension and application would result from in-class tests or from take-home exams. Subjects were 258 college students in various social science courses. Results favored in-class testing. (Author/SJL)

A comparison of bilingual Puerto Rican students' scores showed no significant differences between the Full Scale and the Verbal Scale scores on both tests, but significant differences between the Verbal and Performance Scale scores on both tests. Caution in testing bilingual children before determination of bilinguality is recommended. (Author)

A comparison of nonverbal with verbal clinical group interventions suggested that some traditional self-report devices show less differentiation between these two interventions than do measures of group cohesion. A strong, replicable manipulation tested these findings, which were consistent with previous research. (Author/BEF)

This study compared the effectiveness of systematic desensitization and the directed experience hypnotic technique in reducing self-reported test anxiety and increasing the academic performance of test-anxious undergraduates (N=36). The results are discussed as evidence for systematic desensitization as the more effective treatment in reducing…

English-language Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventories (MMPI's) were administered to 40 bilingual Mexican-American and 109 Anglo-American psychiatric patients in a community mental health center. With K corrections, Mexican-American subjects scored higher on the L and K scales, but no significant differences were found on clinical scales…

Investigates the effect of test familiarization, practice, and coaching upon the test performance of 10- to 11-year-old British school children. Explains there were two conditions: (1) children had three hours of coaching before test taking; and (2) children received coaching after taking three tests. Includes references. (CMK)

Examines the gender differences of U.S. college students, ages 18-22 years old, who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). States that the data was obtained from the Baccalaureate and Beyond 1993-94 study. Finds that males scored higher on the SAT and ACT. (CMK)

Discusses issues associated with the use of holistic and analytic scoring methods in large-scale student assessments. Reviews the education literature and describes the recent Saskatchewan study comparing the results of the two scoring approaches applied to an achievement test taken by about 1,600 third graders. (SLD)

To determine variations in cognitive characteristics, 10 nonretarded men with infantile autism, residual state, were compared with 15 severely dyslexic men and 25 controls on a neuropsychological test battery. The dyslexics showed a reduced digit span and the autistic group exhibited impaired problem-solving skills. (Author/JDD)

Presented is a quantitative synthesis of examiner familiarity effects on Caucasian and minority students' test performance. Fourteen controlled studies were coded in terms of methodological quality and race-ethnicity. Caucasian students performed similarly in both familiar and unfamiliar examiner conditions, while Black and Hispanic children…

Describes a study of undergraduates that investigated the effects of communication mode (i.e., face-to-face versus remote), information load, and distribution of information on biased discussion in groups. Topics discussed include computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS); biased discussion and information characteristics; and biased…

Reports on a study conducted to evaluate how individual differences in anxiety levels affect performance on computer versus paper-and-pencil forms of verbal sections of the Graduate Record Examination. Contrary to the research hypothesis, analysis of scores revealed that extroverted and less computer anxious subjects scored significantly lower on…

Describes an experiment that was designed to compare three different map displays used as a visual display for information retrieval by either a self-organizing algorithm or human subjects. Results indicate that the organization and visual appearance of map displays had a significant effect on subjects' searching and browsing on the map displays.…