The concepts of cognitive development and objectivity are explored preparatory to a discussion of a suitable theory of development to be used as the foundation for developmentally-based standardized tests. It is hypothesized that Piagetian theory is the most appropriate basis for such tests and two possible approaches for constructing…

Because criterion referenced measurement is a relatively new approach to testing, systematic guidelines for constructing criterion referenced tests (CRTs) have not yet been developed. A number of questions and issues face the test developer who wishes to provide a test that will be helpful in a particular decision-making situation. There are three…

The way in which diagnostic reading test scores were used in planning a remedial program is examined in this report. Among the topics discussed are the administration of a diagnostic test in 13 Irish schools; the organization of a remedial program for students identified as having severe reading problems; weaknesses of diagnostic tests currently…

Examined are several tests designed to measure language development in retarded children and possible options for research. Past attempts (such as Berko's Test of Morphology) to evaluate retarded children's linguistic development are criticized for inadequate language definitions and invalid testing methods. Suggestions for data-gathering options…

The theme of the 1970 Invitational Conference on Testing Problems was "The Promise and Perils of Educational Information Systems." The following papers were presented: (1) "Longer Education: Thinner, Broader, or Higher" by Fritz Machlup; (2) "Testing: Americans' Comfortable Panacea" by Theodore R. Sizer; (3) "Social and Cultural Change and the…

The 1965 meeting of the Western Regional Conference on Testing Problems dealt with change in education. The following speeches were presented: (1) "The Winds of Change in Mathematics Education with a Discussion of Some of the Stronger Gusts" by Sheldon S. Myers; (2) "Articulation Problems in California Foreign Language Instruction" by Kai-yu Hsu;…

Deficiences in the field of psychological testing associated with the assessment of vocational aptitudes are considered. The rationale for a new approach designed to obviate these deficiences is given. A description of the procedures which provide for implementation of the new approach and the semi-automated Performance Assessment System (PAS) is…

This symposium paper describes 2 experiments in which the principles of observational learning were applied in school settings to the treatment of 2 separate groups of test-anxious junior high school students. The first experiment was designed to test the assumption that the counter-conditioning responses thought to occur in systematic…

Specially constructed "speeded" and "unspeeded" forms of a Reading Comprehension section of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) were administered to regular center and fee-free center LSAT candidates in an effort to determine: (1) if the test was more speeded for fee-free candidates, and (2) if reducing the amount of…

Two existing measures of occupation that seem to be useful for investigating social status are described and compared. Modifications are suggested on the basis of extensive investigation of the dimensions of social stratification. Hollingshead scale classifies occupations into seven categories. Because the coder must classify unlisted occupations…

Reported are the proceedings and recommendations of a research conference to improve the development and utilization of intelligence tests for use with blind adults in social and vocational rehabilitation. The following tests are considered: A Haptic Intelligence Scale for the Adult Blind, the Raven Progressive Matrices for Presentation to the…

Literature on forgetting in prose learning was reviewed to establish the relative importance of five variables: (1) the definition of prose and the organizational structure of the material implied in the definition; (2) the time factor; (3) the mode of criteria measurement; (4) the similarity factor; and (5) strength of learning. Each of these was…

This report represents the results of an investigation of the appropriateness of criterion-referenced tests (CRTS) for large-scale evaluations. First, the development and validation of CRTS, including the formulation and generation of CRT objectives, items, and score-interpretation schemes and dimensions of item and test quality, were examined to…

The results of five studies into the characteristics of wrong answers as a class of divergent behavior are presented. The evidence from these studies, when taken in combination, suggests that the tendency of researchers to ignore wrong answers has been a fundamental procedural error of broad scope and serious consequences. Instead of the straight…

This article is a criticism of the NFER report, which evaluated primary school French in England. The following are discussed: factors not considered in the report, whether the conclusions were justified by the evidence, the validity of the tests, and whether the report really evaluates primary school French. (KM)