Issues related to a national assessment of speaking and listening skills include the specification of the domain of communication competencies, the selection of measurement strategies, and the elimination of racial and ethnic bias. A project committee proposed that the domain of national assessment spans three dimensions: function (informing,…

Fairness or unfairness may be an attribute of a test per se, or of its use, or of its statistical treatment. An hypothetical situation designed to be intrinsically fair and unbiased is used to show that analysis of covariance as a statistical method may introduce bias to the treatment of test scores. In contrast, equipercentile equating methods…

The consistency across time and readers of the scoring of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) open-ended exercises was examined. The procedure studied is a nominal categorical scoring. Ten readers independently read 28 sample responses to each of 12 open-ended exercises at three different times. All ten readers agreed on their…

This paper briefly describes three studies in which the Paired Hands Test was used to assess the other-concept as a means of evaluating project or program objectives. The first study involved the use of the Paired Hands Test to evaluate an Afro-American Curriculum Project in which teachers recieved training in the development of a curriculum…

This paper reports on two studies based on classroom use of episode materials developed by Sociological Resources for the Social Studies (SRSS). The 2-week episodes are intended to introduce a sociological perspective into existing social studies courses. The studies were designed to explore the relationship, if any, between the amount of formal…

The audiological assessment of 50 deaf blind children, 6 months to 14 years of age, in an outpatient setting is described, as are testing procedures and results. Etiological factors are given which include maternal rubella (accounting for 27 children), meningitis, prematurity, neonatal anoxia, and Rh incompatability. Discussed are the following…

The twentieth Western Regional Conference on Testing Problems dealt with the issues of assessment/accountability and non-traditional programs. The following speeches were given: (1) "The New Approach of the California State Colleges" by Glenn S. Dumke; (2) "Toward Institutional Goal-Consciousness" by Richard E. Peterson; (3) "The Commission on…

A series of studies were conducted to modify the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) and the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) for use with mentally retarded individuals. Modification of the GATB consisted of eliminating answer sheets, increasing practice, individual administration, untimed administration, removal of verbally loaded items,…

The interaction of behavioral objectives, sequence order, and test and state anxiety were investigated. The study had four purposes: 1) to examine the effects of objectives on achievement; 2) to investigate the effects of sequencing; 3) to study the interaction of availability of objectives and sequence; 4) to study the effects of objectives and…

A list of nine recommendations is put forth with regard to standardized achievement tests. Its rationale is based on the need for fair and effective assessment processes that can be used for diagnosing and prescribing for the needs of individual children. (Author/AM)

The relationship between testing and counseling has been called "the marriage that failed." This article presents a form of marriage counseling, that is, a mode of test interpretation, that may assist counselors to utilize test results more effectively in counseling. (Author)

Measures of teacher behavior are related to student achievement in fifth grade reading and mathematics instruction. It was found that those measures of teacher behavior which were generalizable (that is, more highly reliable) were found to be significantly related to student achievement. (JKS)

The DELPHI procedure requires respondents to reply to several questionnaire iterations with subsequent rounds containing previous round feedback. This study investigated the methodology (response rates, effects of feedback) and offered evidence that large-scale DELPHI surveys are not as advantageous as has previously been indicated. Suggestions…

Evaluates the effectiveness of reading readiness tests in predicting readiness for reading instruction and in diagnosing deficiencies of prerequisite skills for reading; reports the results of a survey on the use of reading readiness tests in 15 school districts. (GW)