It is of crucial importance for the administrator to understand the complexity involved in managing a program of applied performance testing (APT). This paper attempts to clarify the potential and problems inherent in such an undertaking. Many citizens feel that public schools should be offering students the opportunities to acquire skills that…

Traditionally, tests in the language arts have focused on the mechanical skills of reading, writing, and spelling. The problems which have arisen because of tests which measure reading and composing ability without ever requiring the child to actually read or compose have been compounded by teachers' tendencies to turn children away from books by…

The decline in scholastic aptitude test ( SAT) scores does not signify that the quality of education is lower. To interpret this decline requires an understanding of the testing process, changing racial and sex mix of the test makers, changing lifestyle of youth, and the increase in the number of students taking the SAT. (Author/AM)

This analysis serves mostly to point towards some possible productive research areas giving priority to areas that are more easily manageable politically. These are more commonly located within the school context. (Author/AM)

Presents information about the kind of competency testing being done, how educators view the testing movement, and how it is affecting teacher preparation programs. (SRT)

The study investigated the effects of exposure to computer-assisted testing (CAT) as an effective instructional method and its effects on attitudes toward computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Results indicated that subjects exposed to CAT had significantly more favorable attitudes toward CAI than subjects not exposed to CAT. (Author)

This chapter outlines the purpose of testing and assessment, focusing on uses, and highlights some of the limitations of all forms of testing. The concept of testing is one of the major contributions of the field of psychology to society. Carefully developed tests, when used wisely, provide valuable information for decision makers in educational,…

In mastery testing a linear relationship between an optimal passing score and test length is presented with a new optimization criterion. The usual indifference zone approach, a binomial error model, decision errors, and corrections for guessing are discussed. Related results in sequential testing and the latent class approach are included. (CM)

Examines the inherent problems in evaluating writing skills, particularly as practiced by the General Education Development Testing Service. (RL)

The article presents a review of test abuse and misuse with the Chicano. It reviews several measures undertaken to rectify abuses and misuses of tests but that have frequently been the source of new problems while not really ameliorating the basic condition, e.g., test translations, adding points, renorming test scores, and importing tests. (NQ)

This article briefly traces the development of intelligence testing from its beginnings in 1905 with Alfred Binet; cites the intelligence theories of Spearman, Thurstone, and Guilford; and examines current objections to intelligence tests in terms of what they test and how they are interpreted. (SJL)

Three conditions for administering creativity tests by Torrance and by Wallach and Kogan were compared: (1) untimed, gamelike; (2) conventional testlike; and (3) administration of measures under testlike conditions on two adjacent days, using the second testing as the predictor. The conventional testlike condition seems optimal. (Author/CP)

The author attacks not only the racism inherent in existing IQ tests, but the very concept of a standardized intelligence test, which, he asserts, lacks certain basic criteria of consistency and validity necessary to a scientific device. Part of a theme issue on intelligence. (SJL)