A diagnostic test in English as a second language should be a series of miniature tests on specific problems. Subscores in each area should be considered rather than a total score. The results should be used to probe mastery in an area rather than provide the means for comparing one student against another. The statistical reliability of the…

This book is a collection of papers presented at the symposium, "Conference on Ordinal Scales of Cognitive Development, sponsored by the California Test Bureau. Papers include: "The Theory of Stages in Cognitive Development" (J. Piaget); "Two Approaches to Intelligence: Piagetian and Psychometric" (D. Elkind); "An…

Factor analysis was used to summarize the interrelationships between a large and varied collection of measures. Data for 500 third grade students assigned to either an experimental or a comparison condition were obtained. The data covered scores for the first 28 items of the Student Affective Behavior Checklist, (2) 9 nonmathematics subtests of…

Three systems for defining general cognitive abilities were analyzed to determine the nature of possible reference tests for cognitive abilities. They are the Guilford analysis of cognition, Guttman's facet design, and the Primary Mental Abilities of the Thurstones. This analysis led to a fourth schema for classifying abilities that deal with…

This report is the initial overall summary of a comprehensive analysis of children's logical concept attainments and memoric abilities and deals exclusively with the initial and second year's assessment data. The focal point for this normative investigation is the concrete operations period spanning the years of middle childhood. The measurement…

In 1971, a comprehensive study was made of mathematics and reading achievement in the Borough of North York, Ontario. In 1974, a replication and followup study was carried out. The purposes of the study were to replicate the 1972 study, and to obtain a measure of growth in reading and mathematics achievement between grade 3 and grade 5, over the…

In this replication of the 1972 and 1974 studies of reading and mathematics achievement in North York, Ontario, approximately 20 percent of the students at each of the proposed grade levels were included in the sampling. Again, the Metropolitan Achievement Test, the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress, and the School and College Ability Test…

This study sought to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of the PIAT when administered to separate samples of Anglo and Mexican-American children. Thirty-one Mexican-American and 31 Anglo-American children were matched on the basis of sex, age, SES, educational placement, and reason referred for psychological assessment. All…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of scientific discussions based on student-constructed pre- and post-laboratory concept maps on students' attitudes toward chemistry laboratory in the university general chemistry. As part of instruction, during the first four laboratory sessions, students were taught how to construct and…

A random sample of 113 members of the American Vocational Education Research Association (AVERA) was surveyed to obtain baseline information regarding AVERA members' perceptions of statistical significance tests. The Psychometrics Group Instrument was used to collect data from participants. Of those surveyed, 67% were male, 93% had earned a…

Discusses an adaptive diagnostic test used as part of an instructional program in signed-number arithmetic on the PLATO system. Findings indicated that differences in prior and subsequent instructional methods affected the learning of more advanced materials and produced lower achievement scores on posttests. Thirty-two references are listed. (MER)

Examined open-ended production tasks in higher level testing in French-as-a-second-language courses in the United Kingdom. The article studied the effect of teachers' linguistic background, training, experience, and ability on their marking of students' oral language tests; the reliability of marking criteria; and the validity of assessing…

Reports a study of 56 fifth graders that questioned whether the cognitive style of reflection-impulsivity could be measured by students' performance on 2 art-related tests. Found that cognitive style was not a strong predictor of artistic performance. (GG)

Reports the longitudinal follow-up of 41 preschool children as they moved into reading. When the children were 3-years-old, they participated in a detailed assessment of their language, print and metalinguistic skills. Overall language development at age 3 just as strongly correlated with reading scores at age 7 as it had with metalinguistic and…

The question of whether creativity is content general or content specific is one of the most controversial issues in contemporary creativity research. Recent studies provide support for both positions, but the results of these investigations may be influenced by several factors, including the presence of a method effect (i.e., psychometric vs.…