The results of initial validity and reliability studies on the Rational Behavior Inventory are presented. The instrument was developed to be used for assessment, treatment planning, and evaluation of clients by counselors who use Rational Emotive Therapy. (Author/JKS)

The ability of respondents to properly execute Thurstone scaling procedures as opposed to Likert scaling procedures was investigated in a sample of high school students. Results indicate difficulty among respondents using Thurstone-type instructions to resist giving Likert-type responses. (JKS)

Since aptitude tests indicate an individual's abilities, they are useful in career planning and in self evaluation. Aptitudes that show no sex differences, and those at which both women and men excel are listed. The Human Engineering Laboratory, which studies human aptitudes, is described. (GDC)

The Screening Test of Academic Readiness (STAR) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) were administered to 52 kindergarten children to reveal the convergent validity of IQ scores derived from the STAR. The findings raise doubts about the validity of the deviation IQs derived from the STAR. (Author)

Presents a study of ways in which the PPVT may be modified to increase its sensitivity to culturally specific factors. The need for separate tests for Blacks and whites is not supported by data; rather more caution indicated in selecting to whom standardized tests should be administered. (Author)

Examines the way standardized test questions are developed by the Advanced Placement Development Committee; shows that the tests continue to reflect features of New Criticism and have not been changed to reflect recent developments in the discipline of English. (GW)

The purpose of this proficiency legislation is to create a public dialogue regarding high school graduation standards, restore meaning to the high school diploma, and ensure that students who have difficulty with basic skills receive appropriate instruction. (Author/IRT)

Focuses on a who-why-where-when-how-what-whom structural model of interpersonal "distancing." Parallels are drawn between concepts of "intimacy" disequilibrium and cognitive dissonance; the latter deals with attitude-behavior discrepancies and the former with attraction-approach discrepancies. Presented at the American Psychological Association,…

In discussing assessment and its applicability to the needs of Spanish-speaking students, several types of testing approaches are needed. This paper focuses on the use of comprehensive assessment offered by multiple matrix sampling techniques. (SW)

Pretraining on test-taking strategies improved the reliability and predictive power of the Arithmetic Reasoning Test for seventh-grade Chicano students but not for non-Chicano students. Pretraining did not improve the reliability of the Missing Words Test for either group, but appears to have improved the predictive power of this test for both…

Investigated relative effectiveness of rational behavior therapy and systematic desensitization in the treatment of state (test) anxiety and trait anxiety. There were no significant differences between the rational behavior and systematic desensitization groups in regard to test anxiety reduction, but the behavior group did have significantly…

Describes a 1975 impact study designed to assess credit by examination as a vehicle for the professional development of a sample of 730 Florida teachers who took part in a 1972 College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) to determine the suitability of CLEP as an admission battery to undergraduate and graduate study in vocational education. (SH)

Examines changes in the liberalism-conservatism of college students and their non-college peers. Concludes that college students do not become more liberal than the control group of non-college cohorts. (Editor/RK)

Through a series of shifting majorities, the Court upheld the textbook loan, standardized testing and scoring, diagnostic services, and therapeutic services provisions of the Ohio statute and struck down the instructional materials and field trip sections of the law. (Author)