In order to test the hypothesis that size of place of residence and urban proximity preferences constitute factors in population dispersal migration behavior, a random sample of 777 Pennsylvania households plus a sample screened for moving probability (N=319) were surveyed via personal interviews in 1974. A follow-up survey on actual migration…

Attitude toward reading is an important educational outcome and evaluative criteria due to its relationship to reading behavior and the refinement of reading skills. However, existing scales for assessing reading attitudes are invalid, are constrained by a ceiling effect, or are difficult to administer. A reading attitude assessment package was…

In 1972, the board of regents of the university system of Georgia directed that a testing program be established to provide information on the status of student competence in the areas of reading and writing. In addition, the program was to provide a uniform means of identifying those students who fail to attain minimum levels of competence…

Traditional variables used to predict success in higher education have been classified as intellective factors. These so-called intellective factors include: high school grades, aptitude scores and I.Q. scores. Other significant variables used to predict grades are known as non-intellective factors. These non-intellective factors include concepts…

As part of a review of emphases in high school and college language-arts curricula, the American College Testing Program sponsored an invitational language-arts conference at its national office, in February 1976. The eight conference participants were selected to represent various fields of specialization and several institutional affiliations.…

In considering the development of language arts tests, a distinction can be made between statistical issues and ontological matters involving the objective existence and adequate characterization of the phenomenon being measured. Careful examination of standardized, norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests in the areas of reading and…

A suggestion is made for solving the problem of testing spoken English. The students were from the Economics Department of a university in Finland. Their needs (practical ones), their courses in spoken English, the form of the test--oral, reading, and writing--and the marking system are considered. (SCC)

Two approaches to comprehension are described which attempt to probe the students' real understanding of a prepared passage. In the first method, multiple choice questions were asked based on a 400-word passage; in the second method, a variant of the first, questions are separated into comprehension and phrase vocabulary. (SCC)

Suggests that until some meaning of innate capacity is included, the word intelligence has little precision separate from its use in a social or cultural context. The culture that evolves its definition of intelligence will identify the tasks that fulfill that definition. (Author/AM)

The standard growth expectations for various levels and categories of the Quarterly Profile Examination were reported in this study as an approach to assessing edumetric validity. The results demonstrated the usefulness of computing standard growth expectations for tests used in the measurement of within-individual growth. (Author/JKS)

Competency testing is only one component of competency-based education (CBE); the others are: educational objectives, instructional process, remedial instruction, and program evaluation/reconceptualization. To implement only competency testing may result in disillusionment with the entire concept of CBE, which seeks to improve programs, not fail…

The cloze procedure, an established measure of reading achievement, requires language and reading skills not yet available to elementary school English-second-language pupils who are not literate in their vernacular. A modified cloze procedure, designed to overcome this problem, was found to correlate with traditional vocabulary and reading…

While minimum competency testing may cause education to become less pluralistic, its effect will weigh most heavily upon those who fail to pass the tests. Because such testing does nothing to improve teaching or learning, one result will be to hold the student responsible for the educational system's failure. (Author/GC)

The author lists the steps, and the problems involved in developing media or materials for severely handicapped persons. (BD)

Six sets of emerging issues that could involve specific students and classroom situations are discussed here: class suspensions and due process, class rules and teacher inconsistency, classroom equality of opportunity, competency testing, classification of students, and classroom management in alternative schools. (Author)