The study was designed to examine the similarity of response options generated by different item writers using a systematic approach to item writing. The similarity of response options to student responses for the same item stems presented in an open-ended format was also examined. A non-systematic (subject matter expertise) approach and a…

Recent attempts to reduce the adverse impact of examinations have focused on alternatives to written tests. The present report, however, demonstrates how the adverse impact of written tests can be reduced by correcting for the degree to which a job applicant had been educationally and/or economically disadvantaged or deprived. A measure of…

A Spanish translation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) was tested for reliability among kindergarten to ninth grade Puerto Rican children. The study was prompted by the concern expressed in previous studies that translated and adapted intelligence tests, which have been standardized primarily with children of one culture, do…

The controversy over the use of standardized tests with minority-group children has generally ignored the issue of examiner race and sex factors on test performance. This study investigated the effects of the race and sex of a test examiner and the anxiety level of the subjects and their achievement test performance. Examiners (E) of different…

The internal consistency of the test for Auditory Comprehension of Language (TACL), as it is used in the diagnostic assessment of the language comprehension of black, low socioeconomic preschool children, was investigated in this study. 30 three year old and 30 four year old black Headstart children from Pulaski County, Arkansas were given the…

This issue reports on 19 research studies on Mexican American and Puerto Rican children. Research interest in Mexican American life and history is rising especially among Mexican American researchers. Seven separate research areas are discussed in this report; (1) history, (2) social mobility and assimilation, (3) community power, (4) reading…

This study was conducted to determine whether the administration of translation of an English language, teacher attitude test to teachers of other cultures would measure the same things as does its English original. The Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) was given to 509 French Canadian elementary school teachers, and the factor structure…

The drawbacks of a 't' ratio measure of psychological androgyny are discussed. Other measurement approaches are indicated, and a substantive issue is addressed. (Author)

Noting that morality is an individual matter of choice and that a teacher must often choose in evaluation as well as in other aspects of teaching between serving "the system" or the individual learners, the author argues that a teacher must serve what he appraises to be the demands of individual students learning certain materials. (JM)

A behavioral domain is well-defined when it is clear to both test developers and test users which categories of performance should or should not be considered for potential test items. Only those tests that are keyed to well-defined domains meet the definition of criterion-referenced tests. The greatest proliferation of criterion-referenced tests…

This study considers whether or not the various sentence structures in standardized reading tests cohere to facilitate the extraction of information. In the context of the theoretical framework of the study, a schema theory of reading, a diffuse discourse structure may legitimately activate more than one way of conceptualizing an answer to a test…

This report describes research in progress at Duisburg University on a modification of the cloze principle in language testing. Four problem areas in classical cloze tests are isolated and discussed, namely, text selection, test construction, scoring, and interpretation. The "C-tests" in the process of development use the theoretical…

Three arguments are generally advanced about why language testing is not more familiar to teachers. The arguments are that the material on testing is not readily available or relevant to teaching, that it is out of date, and that it is not taught in teacher training or in-service training. A review of research led to inconclusive evidence on the…

Improved communication and cooperation between test publishers and school systems is essential for solving major test problems. Test-curriculum matching, test equating, and inappropriate use of grade equivalent scores are major problem areas. The degree to which a standardized test yields information relevant to what the system is trying to teach…

A series of studies on conceptual and design problems in competency-based measurements are explained. The concept of validity within the context of criterion-referenced measurement is reviewed. The authors believe validation should be viewed as a process rather than an end product. It is the process of marshalling evidence to support…