The research leading to the decisions to revise the Graduate Record Examination Aptitude Test (GRE) (beginning in October 1981) is reviewed. The issues discussed include the format of the test (the timing of each section and the number of sections, the content of the sections--especially the analytical section), the scoring procedure for the GRE,…

Teacher testing began in Arkansas when the governor threatened to veto a 1% sales tax if a teacher testing bill were not passed. With enactment of Act 76 in 1983, an instrument was developed for field testing in 1984 over objections of the Arkansas Education Association. The test, the Arkansas Educational Skills Assessment, is comprised of 50…

This article presents a meta-analysis of the effects of examiner familiarity/unfamiliarity on children's performance during individual testing. Data came from 22 controlled studies involving 1489 subjects. In a typical study, the effect of examiner familiarity raised test performance by .35 standard deviations. Differential performance favoring…

The complex nature of the psychological construct called judgment, the history of its identification as a mental ability, its measurement, and its relationship to other mental abilities are discussed. Factor analytic research which isolated the judgment factor is reviewed. The pervasiveness of the judgment factor throughout a number of diverse…

Screening refers here to the process of making an initial selection of those who need further diagnostic evaluations. A screening process which effectively selects true learning disability (LD) cases from a population reduces the number of incorrectly selected non-LD children who would be needlessly given costly psychoeducational evaluations.…

The RMC Corporation, under contract to the U.S. Office of Education, developed a reporting and evaluation system to be used at the state and local level for evaluating Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I programs. The three evaluation models and RMC's recommendations regarding their implementation specified stringent requirements…

Recommendations for the improvement of the diesel engine and truck components of the Hawaii state certification examination for automobile and truck mechanics were solicited from 14 major private businesses repairing heavy tractor rigs and/or diesel engines on Oahu and a statewide sample of 21 trucking firms and other companies making extensive…

Since literacy tests determine instruction, they should be designed to match well-defined instructional goals. They should be evaluated and implemented by those who teach literacy in consultation with other interested parties and should function to improve teaching as well as to evaluate students. Writing abilities should be measured directly or…

This study surveyed 53 master's level students in two tests and measurement classes to determine if and in what fashion they had been victimized by testing and evaluation. The purpose of this activity was to acquire personal data which could be used to both dramatize and formulate criteria for the construction of classroom tests. A majority of…

This paper delineates several problems which arise when criterion-referenced test results are used to evaluate the effects of a specific educational treatment. Focus is on these topics: (1) the aggregation of individual students' data on objectives, (2) the sensitivity of the instrument to instruction, (3) the interpretation of…

In earlier research, Sedlacek and Brooks provided evidence for the validity of a measure of attitudes of whites towards blacks. In developing the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) one of their major methodological points was that an appropriate measure of racial attitudes would provide a racial context to make difficult the psychological withdrawal…

An experiment employing a 2x2x3 factorial design sought to determine the extent to which socially disadvantaged elementary school students' unfamiliarity with some terms in a verbal subsection of a group intelligence test may account for their relatively poor performance on such tests. Training was provided so as to attempt improvement in these…

A panel of 15 experts in child development, early childhood education and measurement met in September 1972 to assist the Office of Child Development in establishing priorities in improving tests and measurements for young children. A summary of the panel discussion is presented along with the specific recommendations made by the participants. The…

The psychological effects of success and failure on the North Carolina Minimum Competency Test (MCT) were examined. Subjects were high school students, who were pre- and post-tested using the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale and the High School Personality Questionnaire. Self-esteem decreased following knowledge of MCT failure. (LMO)