Criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests are compared, and norm-referenced tests are found to have inadequacies as a basis for evaluation or instructional improvement. Disadvantages of norm-referenced tests, which measure a student's performance relative to the performance of other students, are: (1) mismatches between local curriculum and…

POST-TEST INTELLIGENCE SCORES OF YOUNG NEGRO CHILDREN OBTAINED FOLLOWING A 6-MONTH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WERE COMPARED ACCORDING TO THE RACE AND SEX OF THE EXAMINER ADMINISTERING THE TEST. PRETEST SCORES OBTAINED PRIOR TO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT HAD INDICATED THAT NEGRO EXAMINERS PRODUCED SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER STANFORD-BINET IQ SCORES THAN…

The validity of interpreting teachers' perceptions of their performance as an index of their actual performance was examined. Two matching instruments were constructed; each contained 72 items in 6 categories of skills. One assessed teachers' perceptions of their competence on behaviorally stated generic teaching skills, and the other assessed…

Although the diagnostic testing of writing is still quite primitive, error analysis and protocol analysis hold promise for writing diagnosis. True diagnostic testing does more than aid in placing students; it identifies the nature of needed instruction. Tests in writing have not been developed to reflect approaches used in diagnostic testing in…

Mastery tests are analyzed in terms of the number of skills to be mastered and the number of items per skill, in order that correct decisions of mastery or nonmastery will be made to a desired degree of probability. It is assumed that a random sample of skills will be selected for measurement, that each skill will be measured by the same number of…

Since their beginning, intelligence tests have favored the higher social classes. Despite federal mandates to the contrary, bias in assessment is likely to remain a problem. Claims of test bias can be categorized as popular (naive); clinical (intuitive); statistical (predictive); and psychometric (construct and content). A literature review has…

Several major issues were raised against intelligence testing by the plaintiffs in Larry P. versus Wilson Riles. It was argued that since California used intelligence tests to ascertain who should be placed in programs for the educable mentally retarded (EMR), and since blacks performed less well on the tests than whites, it was the tests which…

The final report adresses the problems involved in identifying gifted minority children. Reviewed is the historical perspective of cross cultural assessment in behavioral research. Typical gross errors and misinterpretations of data in cross cultural assessment are pointed out. Among fundamental considerations listed include the use of items…

This paper relates the legal requirements regarding employee selection and equal employment opportunity. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII; the interpretations of Title VII by the Equal Employment Commission; the case of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971); and pertinent questions for employers, following the Griggs case, are examined. (Author)

Questions that confront teachers, administrators, and the many others involved in the education of immigrants are explored here by individuals with diverse backgrounds and points of view. The papers in this volume are written to examine a variety of issues in depth and to provide answers in relation to the education of immigrant students. While…

Black, Puerto Rican, Chicano, native American and low income white children represent the vast educational underclass who are most likely to be affected by test misuse or abuse. More than 50 million American children take at least three standardized tests a year, it is estimated. Of these an estimated ten percent are subjected to and are damaged…

Many people hope that the unique skills and perspectives of anthropologists can help them to make the contributions to social programs that have eluded other social scientists. Ethnography promises to make a significant contribution to evaluation of educational innovations. Before this promise can be realized, however, there are many practical and…

Numerous investigations of the relationship of oral language skills to the acquisition of reading show that the nonstandard language of the child accounts, at least in part, for classroom failure. Even a teacher who is well informed about the nature of nonstandard language and its relationship to reading and academic success requires a valid oral…

Evaluation problems evolving from certain objectives of intervention programs and from the characteristics of the target population are investigated. The intellectual process approach of experimental education with its emphasis on conative and motive objectives requires an evaluation technique capable of reflecting the desired behaviors more…

Contents of this booklet include: (1) "What's wrong with reading tests?", Deborah Meier, covering the following areas: the definition of reading, the social context of testing, the trouble with the tests, and how children handle tests; (2) "An English view of evaluation," an excerpt from a longer interview with Kenneth Barker at Froebel Institute…