The recommended procedure for achievement test selection is presented. Following a review of some fundamental definitions of statistical properties of achievement tests (validity, reliability, and norms), major considerations to be applied in selecting achievement tests are discussed. These considerations are: (1) the characteristics of the school…

An introductory textbook on psychological tests and measurements is presented in paper back booklet form. The style is informal and humorous, and the book is intended to appeal to the contemporary student. Ten chapters constitute the text: (1) On Measurement and Existence; (2) A Brief, Imprecise History of Psychological Testing; (3) The Creation…

Two forms of the CEEB English Composition Test and four tests constructed by the University of Illinois Rhetoric department were compared as final examinations for the freshman English composition course. Results from 2545 students indicate that while the CEEB tests discriminate more between students and are more reliable, the departmental tests…

Conclusions from an examination of the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that it furnishes little help for those involved in the publication of composition textbooks. Four main difficulties in making inferences from the Assessment data on writing are (1) it is not clear why individuals perform as well or as poorly…

Because previous reports have suggested that the lowered validity of tests scored with empirical option weights might be explained by a capitalization of the keying procedures on omitting tendencies, a procedure was devised to key options empirically with a "correction-for-guessing" constraint. Use of the new procedure with Graduate…

A random sample of 225 grade one children were given the Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test (CCAT) on two occasions within seven months. During the second administration the WISC was also administered. KR-20 reliabilities of the CCAT for the two administrations were respectively .83 and .74. The test-retest reliability was .75. The correlation…

Teaching performance tests are measures which assess a teacher's ability to accomplish prespecified instructional objectives. Although possessing much face validity, little psychometric information is available about such assessment devices. Three separate studies were conducted to provide information about the validity, reliability,…

A study was conducted to validate a school behavior rating scale on a sample of 1,153 elementary school children. Results indicate stable means and variances over grades kindergarten through fifth grade and a stable factor structure. Sex differences on behavior ratings favored females over males at all grade levels. School behavior ratings…

The objective of the study was to develop a test of concept formation which would: (1) not be biased by reading difficulty; (2) be sufficiently stimulating to capture the attention of the students; (3) incorporate both aspects of concept formation of discriminative response and conservation; (4) have a spread of item difficulty appropriate for…

A decision model designed to determine the reliability and validity of criterion referenced measures (CRMs) is presented. General procedures which pertain to the model are discussed as to: Measures of relationship, Reliability, Validity (content, criterion-oriented, and construct validation), and Item Analysis. The decision model is presented in…

The development of environmental process measures marks a significant step forward in the assessment of environment quality. As Bloom (1964) predicted, these measures have made it possible to more clearly delineate the relationship between environment and development. Although factorial structure of many process instruments is open to question,…

The Women's Liberation Scale (WLS) is a 14-item, Likert-type scale designed to measure attitudes toward positions advocated by women's groups. The WLS and its four-alternative response schema is presented, along with descriptive statistics of scores based on male and female college samples. Reliability and validity measures are reported, and the…

Reliability and validity data are presented for three orthogonal measures of temperament: trait-pleasure, trait-arousal, and trait-dominance. Reliability coefficients for the three scales were .91, .60, and .84, respectively. Intercorrelations among the three scales were insignificant and low. (Author/JKS)

Reliability and validity data are reported for a 38-item questionnaire measure of individual differences in achieving tendency, which is an expanded and improved version of Mehrabian's scales. (Author/JKS)

The Kinesthetic Aftereffect (KAE) has been criticized as a personality measure because of its poor retest reliability and questionable validity. However, KAE's lower reliabilty can be explained by systematic bias effects occuring in pretesting. When the validity evidence is reevaluated in this light, "questionable" validity disappears.…