Background/Context: Pass/fail standardized exams frequently selectively rescore failing exams and retest failing examinees. This practice distorts the test score distribution and can confuse those who do analysis on these distributions. In 2011, the Wall Street Journal showed large discontinuities in the New York City Regent test score…

State test scores administered for accountability purposes are regularly used to adjust instruction in nuanced ways. This is no accident--No Child Left Behind demanded that students' scores be returned quickly to teachers in order that this might be the case, and the idea of data-driven decision making continues as one way the promise of education…

Purpose: To review the content and psychometric characteristics of 6 published tests currently available to aid in the study, diagnosis, and treatment of motor speech disorders in children. Method: We compared the content of the 6 tests and critically evaluated the degree to which important psychometric characteristics support the tests' use for…

Warns that scores on standardized reading tests which fall at or below the chance level should be disregarded and suggests that teachers administer a lower level of the same test. Table. (RW)

A brief, nontechnical state-of-the-art review of four common instruments and current practices in the field of scholastic aptitude testing is presented. The instruments include: the 1971 Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT), 1973 Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability (H-NTMA), 1979 Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) and the 1970 Short Form Test of…

Addresses the issue of what intelligence tests really measure and for what purpose and which populations. Examines the role of intelligence testing within the larger mental retardation evaluation process, looking at this phenomenon from both the historical and contemporary perspectives. (Author/ABB)

The importance of using the standard error of measurement (SEm) in determining reliability in test scores is emphasized. The SEm is compared to the hypothetical true score for standardized tests, and procedures for calculation of the SEm are explained. (JDD)

The New York State Physical Fitness Screening Test, an individual performance-type test composed of four different test items, was developed to provide school personnel with an instrument for use in determining the physical fitness of pupils and to screen pupils who are physically underdeveloped. The original norms for the test were obtained in…

Information on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, a major revision of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale, covers authors, publisher, prices, copyright dates and revisions, groups for whom the instrument is intended, forms, purpose and recommended use, dimensions measured, administration, data summation, score interpretation, test…

Referring principally to Indians on reserves, this summary paper discusses the role that poverty, health and nutrition, social conflict, language, and test motivation play in relation to interpretation of test data obtained on Indian children. It is reported that the 2 greatest problems affecting test reliability, validity, and validity of test…