A study of the reliability of a computer-assisted test of optometric clinical diagnostic skills that uses actual patient cases revealed that the test is most useful when used in conjunction with subjective clinical grading for evaluating problem-solving skills. (MSE)

Recent developments in cognitive and educational psychology, such as increased appreciation of the situated nature of learning and understanding, call for broader ranges of student models and types of data than those standard in testing today. We must specify how what we observe on the test is related to competence as we conceptualize it, and…

The proportion of variance in student achievement that is explained by student SES-"poverty's power rating," as some dub it--tends to be lower among smaller schools than among larger schools. Small schools, many claim, are able to somehow disrupt the seemingly axiomatic association between SES and student achievement. Using eighth-grade…

A copy of the computer program, which determines the transformation matrix used to rotate the configuration, the dilation factor, and the translation vector, is available from the first author. (CB)

The achievement test residual's ability to discriminate between school systems has potential as a useful measurement of school system output. (LN)

An experimental group and control group were exposed to an innovative program of music education. The former group was composed of lower class children and the latter of middle class children. The greater success was achieved in working with the first group. (CK)

A sensitive measurement model is developed that provides transactional scale values for individual members of a group, as well as an evaluation of pairwise interactions and balances that are emergent properties of the group itself. (Author/DG)

Since all commonly used latent trait models assume a unidimensional test, the applicability of the procedure to obviously multidimensional tests is questionable. This paper presents the results of the application of latent trait, traditional, and factor analyses to a series of actual and hypothetical tests that vary in factoral complexity.…

Illustrates variation affecting the position of pronouns in complex verb phrases among native French speakers. Describes the methods used to verify the hypothesis that there exists a correlation between individual hesitation and lack of consensus in the community. Analyzes data from questionnaires administered to 551 persons in Switzerland and…

Possible bias in admissions decisions on the basis of sex is analyzed. The methods of testing for bias and the results thereof for graduate academic programs at the University of California, Davis, are reported. Differences in the quality distribution, based on grade point average, between male and female applicants are incorporated. (MLW)

An experimental study was designed to evaluate the effect on French language proficiency of an integrated, formal, analytic and functional, communicative approach to second-language teaching in French immersion. The study consisted of 315 grade 7 early French immersion students. (28 references) (VWL)

Investigates the effect of a 30-minute presentation of Carol Kuhlthau's Information Search Process (ISP) model on undergraduate students' perceptions of research and research paper anxiety, focusing on results of the quantitative analysis. Highlights include pretests and posttest results; and data analysis and hypothesis testing. (Author/LRW)

The approximate degrees of freedom Welch-James (WJ) and Brown-Forsythe (BF) procedures for testing within-subjects effects in multivariate groups by trials repeated measures designs were investigated under departures from covariance homogeneity and normality. Empirical Type I error and power rates were obtained for least-squares estimators and…

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the context switch effect upon retrieval of the information about a cue-outcome relationship in human predictive learning. The results replicated the well-known effect of renewal of the cue-outcome relationship due to a context change after a retroactive interference treatment, as much as the null effect…