An ethnographic study indicates that not all children's understanding of tests matches that of their teachers and their schools. Some testing problems experienced by minority children appear to relate to their lack of understanding or acceptance of tests as devices for judging personal success or failure in the classroom. (Author/GC)

Describes a pilot project whereby oral proficiency interviews were administered to students studying fourth- and fifth-year year German at Amherst Regional High School in Massachusetts. The interviews were based on techniques taught at the American Council on the teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service Oral Proficiency Summer…

FITNESSGRAM, a computerized program for scoring and reporting students' physical fitness status based on specific tests, has been a resounding success in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, public schools. The program provides feedback to students and permits evaluation of physical fitness efforts on a school-by-school basis. (PP)

With the addition of a writing component to many high-stakes tests (e.g., college admission tests and high school exit exams), a review of writing accommodations for students with disabilities becomes critical. This paper reviews the accommodation policies of 20 states with high school exit exams of writing and three testing organizations that…

Analyzes the difficulties in trying to estimate which instruments yield dependable information about children and the misconceptions surrounding testing. (Author/RK)

The present study was conducted to determine (1) if the quantitative section of the Admission Test for Graduate Study in Business is more speeded for black examinees than for white, and (2) if reducing or increasing the degree of speededness has a differential effect on the scores of minority versus majority group members. (Author)

The results support the use of the FCGI as a research tool; the assurance that responses will not affect incarceration generally results in truthful responding. Under conditions where such assurance could not be given, scores should be interpreted cautiously since subjects may then have reason to falsify responses. (Author)

Study funded by the Exploratory Committee for Assessing the Progress of Education (ECAPE).

Four considerations that enhance the instructional importance of tests are content match, use of feedback, a flagging function, and the increasing tendency to attach sanctions and rewards to standardized test results. These sanctions are apt to force greater attention to the other three characteristics, strengthening the links between instruction…

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (Dunn and Dunn) is described as a convenient, quick test, possessing improvements over the original. It measures a subject's receptive (hearing) vocabulary for Standard American English. However, the validity information for the test is less than adequate, since no validity studies are presented for it.…

Reviews selected research studies on testing in science education to demonstrate that, although many tests do exist in science education, there are areas needing further development. (CS)

A survey of problems in assessment and examinations in modern languages is offered, focusing in part on lack of consensus among teachers on relative weighting of qualities sought in student answers. Developments in standardized examinations are noted. (MSE)

Reviews a study of the perceived importance of 47 measurement objectives by elementary and secondary education majors who had not taken a measurement course. Suggests origins of education majors' negative attitudes about testing and considers some remedies. (JD)

Higher WISC-R scores were achieved by high school students receiving positive nonverbal treatment than by those receiving neutral nonverbal treatment. (Author/RL)