The model for educational measurement developed by George Rasch, a Danish psychometrician, is reviewed and its application to occupational educational testing discussed. The Rasch model is an adaptation from the theory of latent trait analysis. According to it, answering an item correctly is a function of the difficulty of the item and the ability…

The relationship between student counselors' level of confrontation and personality variables, as measured by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), was studied. The subjects were 20 graduate students enrolled in two sections of a Counseling Practicum class. Level of confrontation was measured from audio-tape ratings made by the student…

The effects of two social contexts on the risk -taking behavior of elementary boys on a shuffleboard task were investigated. It was predicted that Atkinson's motive-probability-incentive (M-P-I) model would be supported in the peer-competitive context, in that the success-oriented subjects would choose more goals with median Ps values than the…

An elementary music experience program and efforts to expand it are presented. Program objectives include: (1) Increase achievement in specific areas of music, such as singing, rhythms, listening, and playing instruments; (2) Encourage self-expression or creativity; and (3) Develop an interest in extracurricular music activities. Intermediate…

Using examples from evaluations of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Basic Grants Program, the ESAA Pilot Program, and the sustaining effects of compensatory education programs, school and student attrition are discussed. As in the example cases, appreciable attrition can be expected in most longitudinal studies. The possible effects of this…

Ten years of validity research concerning the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) is reviewed. The equivalence of the SIT to the Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler Scales is examined and the relationship of the SIT to achievement measures is described. (Author)

The intention of this research is to contribute additional data, hopefully bearing on the solution to some of the problems and indirectly, the cause(s) of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and to present ideas for consideration for future SIDS research. (Author/RK)

Describes computer-based placement tests developed at the second language institute at the University of Ottawa, Canada using Ficelle. Students in the French as a second language program were tested using either the computer-based test or a pencil-and-paper test. Statistical analysis indicated no significant differences between the two test…

Extended matching sets questions (EMSQs) are a form of multiple-choice question (MCQ) consisting of a stem (the question or scenario) with an extended number of possible answers. Although there is no consensus on their absolute format, for the purpose of this paper a multiple-choice question with ten or more alternative answers is considered to be…

There is increasing agreement among those who study classrooms that learning is likely to be most effective when students are actively involved in the dialogic coconstruction of meaning about topics that are of significance to them. This article reports the results of an extended collaborative action research project in which teachers attempted to…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether data distribution changes as a result of motor skill practice or learning. The data on three dependent measures (movement time; MT), percentage of movement time in primary submovement (PSB), and movement jerk (JEK) were collected at baseline and practice Blocks 1 to 5. Sixty 6-year-olds,…

The use of accommodations has been widely proposed as a means of including English language learners (ELLs) or limited English proficient (LEP) students in state and districtwide assessments. However, very little experimental research has been done on specific accommodations to determine whether these pose a threat to score comparability. This…

When 2006 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) scores were released in March 2007, there were many questions about the comparability of the 2006 test to earlier ISATs. The 2006 ISAT was a new test, with new items, a new format, new timing requirements, and new scoring procedures. Many people were skeptical about whether it was appropriate to…

This paper introduces criterion-referenced tests (CRTs), compares them with norm-referenced tests (NRTs), discusses how they can be evaluated and revised, and presents a study of an actual class and textbook test evaluation using CRTs. NRTs have dominated testing methodology since the mid-1970s; an example is the Test of English as a Foreign…

This brief paper summarizes a roundtable discussion on the relative lack of use by special education researchers of a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Discussion addressed: (1) the types of knowledge that could be generated by using a wider range of research methods (e.g., structural equation modeling and associated methods…