The average scores of high school students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) have been dropping for the past twelve years. From 1974 to 1975, average scores dropped ten points on the verbal section and eight points on the mathematics section. These dramatic declines, the largest ever reported by the College Entrance Examination Board, have…

This book is conceived as a definitive expose and practitioner's manual of readability measurement, with special reference to French language readability. Proceeding from a detailed outline of research on readability from 1923 to the present, the book confronts such issues as external criteria used for validation of readability formulas, choice of…

This explanatory booklet and the materials that accompany it have two major purposes. The first purpose is to provide local school officials with information regaing the performance on basic skills achievement of each student who took the 1971-72 Michigan Educational Assessment Battery. The second purpose is to provide local officials with…

This paper describes and evaluates the coverage and content validity of the vocational/career education tests available commercially to high school educators. Tests were analyzed with respect to their collective coverage of the vocational/career education curriculum goals appropriate to grades 11 and 12, and the extent to which each possessed good…

A strong stand against the use of College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) scores to evaluate high school language programs is developed in this position paper. Equally criticized is the practice of teacher evaluation based on analysis of student achievement as reflected in the scores. The mystery of determining the significance of percentile…

This study reports the results of the cluster analysis and a study of the instruments used in the Comparative Guidance Placement Program as they function in each of 20 curricular group clusters. The battery of tests and questionnaires were administered to approximately 6,000 students enrolled in more than 50 different programs within 23…

The measurement of racial attitudes in contemporary America is presented with some serious methodological obstacles. In an attempt to eliminate these obstacles, Sedlacek and Brooks developed the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) to measure the attitudes of whites toward blacks. It includes two Forms, A and B. The effects of the same individual…

The aim of this paper is to describe the rationale and evaluation of the Black Intelligence Scale of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH). A "culture specific" test is used to determine the taker's ability to function symbolically or to think in terms of his own culture and environment. A combination of dialect specific and culture specific…

The Behavioral Dimensions Rating Scale was administered to both emotionally disturbed and normal students. The factor structure was found, using confirmatory factor analysis, to be invariant over these groups. Thus, the construct validity of the instrument was supported as a measure of disturbance of school age children. (Author/KS)

Using both the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) and the Purdue University Scales, 727 undergraduates rated 32 instructors. The BARS had less halo effect, more leniency error, and lower interrater reliability. Both formats were valid. The two tests did not differ in rate discrimination or susceptibility to rating bias. (Author/GDC)

Several issues facing the measurement community were brought on by the recent emphasis on stricter educational accountability measures. These testing issues include the limits of test scores, effects of testing on instruction, proper test use, importance of the test content, and defining the basics in education. (EGS)

The use of national achievement tests in schools can result in varying degrees of curricular match/mismatch with respect to local curricula. This article explores the types of mismatch which can occur, discusses the inferences made from test scores and their importance, and addresses some implications for the educational community. (EGS)

Examines the negative outcomes of the mandatory external primary school-leaving certificate examination administered to Irish sixth-graders, 1943-67. Concludes that the Irish experience should warn American educators of the possible dangers of using minimum competency tests as the sole or primary determinant of decisions concerning grade-to-grade…

This document is a summary of the findings of an extensive review by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) of empirical research on the effectiveness of current approaches to licensing and certifying teachers. The research review focused on eight questions (and several subquestions) that are of particular interest and concern to policy and…

The process of designing and validating a test of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) speaking skills is described. The study examined: (1) whether nine traits (pronunciation, grammar, discourse, fluency, content, vocabulary, comprehensibility, interactional competence, sociolinguistic competence) are relevant and separable parts of speaking…