Investigated examiner errors on 46 protocols completed by certified and/or licensed clinical and school psychologists. Findings showed that nearly 83 percent of the protocols contained at least one error, about one-half containing errors that resulted in an incorrect Mental Processing Composite Global score and/or Achievement Global score.…

Analyzed 56 Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised protocols completed by 1 certified and 8 licensed practitioners to examine administration and scoring mistakes. Observed numerous mistakes (failure to record examinee responses, assigning too few or too many points to answers, inappropriate questioning, and failure to obtain correct…

Interrater differences in scoring actual WISC protocols were determined for three different IQ levels. In general, differences among the 94 examiners tended to be within an acceptable range as established by the standard error of measurement; variance on two Verbal subtests occasionally exceeded their corresponding standard error of measurement.…

Uses verbatim examples from observation notes to describe common pitfalls of beginning testers in the area of rapport with children. Concluded that trainees in testing often cannot translate guidelines in the literature into effective rapport in the testing session. Observation of test administration in a realistic setting is essential. (JAC)

Studied (N=40) educably mentally retarded students in an experimental group who were verbally praised after responses to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised). Scaled scores for five of eleven subtests, in addition to the Verbal, Performance and Full Scale indices, were significantly greater under the experimental procedure.…

The performance of black youths in educational and psychological testing situations cannot be assessed adequately without consideration of their particular attitudes, perceptions, and behavioral patterns. The authors discuss Blacks' attitudes toward whites, systems of time allocations, expressions of identity, attitudes toward learning,…

Error in assessing learning aptitude inheres much more in the users of the tests than in the tests themselves. Assumptions fundamental to such assessment are considered. It is particularly important that the tester constantly be sensitive to the nature of the relaionship between the psychological demands of test items or tests and the learning…

Urban and rural school girls were randomly assigned to black and white examiners to be tested on an individually administered intelligence test. The interaction of race of examiner, race of subject, and location of subject's home on test performance was investigated. This interaction was not significant. (Author)