This program of research has three general thrusts. First, the relations between motivation and achievement performance were studied across children of various sociocultural backgrounds including lower- and middle- class white, black, and hispanic children. Motivational test bias was found to be strong for students of all sociocultural…

Army personnel managers have a continuing need to select, classify and assign to training and jobs large numbers of men who enter the service. The present publication addresses the value of selection and classification testing program in relation to job training success and the suitability of the tests for subgroups of the manpower available to…

While the seventh and ninth grade Maryland Functional Mathematics Tests (MFMT) appear valid and well constructed, the 65 percent passing rate for Montgomery County Public Schools' ninth grade students raises questions about the 81 percent passing score set for the MFMT. This standard is far stiffer than the 59 percent set for the Maryland…

Most of the arguments lodged against minimum competency testing are really observations about the abuses of testing. Blacks and other minority groups are understandably mistrustful of recent developments in minimum competency testing--possible grounds for legal challenges include the adequacy of the phase-in periods; the match between tests and…

Four problems faced by the staff of the California Assessment Program (CAP) were solved by applying Rasch scaling techniques: (1) item cultural bias in the Entry Level Test (ELT) given to all first grade pupils; (2) nonlinear regression analysis of the third grade Reading Test scores; (3) comparison of school growth from grades two to three, using…

To assist in the development of policies to eliminate the subtle inequities which inhibit the mathematics achievement of many Black youths, it is suggested that the redesign of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment study Black students' opportunity to learn mathematics. Recommendations for the redesign of…

Trends in teacher competency testing, test bias against minority group teachers, and ways to encourage qualified personnel to join the teaching profession are discussed. Currently, 21 states require students to pass a test to enter a teacher education program, and 31 require teacher candidates to pass a certification test. Admission tests include…

Robert L. Thorndike was awarded the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Measurement Award at the 1972 ETS Invitational Conference. In "Heredity, Environment, and Class or Ethnic Differences," J. McV. Hunt addressed several fundamental questions pertaining to the hereditary and environmental influences of the observed social class and ethnic…