Four papers, given at AAUW's biennial convention in June 1979, agreed that the apparent determination of many groups to return education "back to basics" resulted from a distorted view of the current problems of education. Definition of "basics," testing, and role for American Association of University Women are discussed. (MLW)

A method of assessment using six one-hour tests, with provision to repeat four of them, is described. Performance in the course, high school background, and the first test's results are used to determine entry criteria for the course. (MSE)

Salient concerns for practitioners of fitness testing are identified. (JD)

Results are presented of a national survey gathering data on selected characteristics of master's degree in education programs at public and private colleges with under 10,000 students. (JD)

Responding to critics of testing, the author presents an argument in its favor--that testing is one of the ways in which a teacher may gather information necessary for student monitoring and instructional decision-making. (SJL)

Substantial sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability in favor of males was apparently found by this study. The data was collected in an investigation of intellectually gifted junior high school pupils who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test. (MP)

Describes a study designed to clarify the relationships among young children's age, reasoning ability, ability to add regular and irregular plurals to real and nonsense count nouns and testing methods. Discusses age as a factor employed to indicate how the use of plurals changes over time. (MES)

The taxonomy of test wiseness constructed by Millman and others is discussed. Other aspects of test wiseness are reviewed, such as additional influencing factors, manifestations, theoretical approaches, correlates, measures, and methods of minimizing its effects. (MH)

This article discusses the controversy between advocates of the discrete-point test and the integrative test as measures of the language proficiency of students of English as a second language. (CFM)

It is in the best interest of both educators and the public that a stringent, valid, and rigorous assessment of individual competencies be associated with the granting to individuals of the authority to teach. (JD)

This paper hypothesized an explanation for declining achievement scores in science, centering a reduction in time and emphasis devoted to cognitive activities. Analysis of data did not produce definitive results, but indicated a need for further study. (MK)

A mathematics test, developed by preservice teachers, was given to several samples of students. The results are given and discussed. (MK)

The hypothesis was tested that low self-esteem people are more "self-conscious," which impairs their task performance. High and low self-esteem subjects performed a concept formation task under conditions designed to focus the subject's attention on himself or on the task. Results paralleled findings on test anxiety. (SJL)

The study was designed to determine not only the comparability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the WISC-Revised (WISC-R) with 40 minimal brain dysfunction children (6-10 years old), but also to determine whether well-established, clinically useful configurations emerge in the WISC-R as they do in the WISC. (Author/SBH)

Secondary analysis of data originally collected to determine attitudes and behavior in dental health assesses the differences in amount of health knowledge possessed by Anglos and Chicanos in the El Paso, Texas, area. (JMF)