Student and test characteristics were examined by multiple regression analysis and discriminant function analysis to explain why 171 political science undergraduates scored differently on essay versus objective final examinations. Student characteristics included: (1) patterns of creative, crystallized, and fluid abilities as measured by the…

It is suggested that bias--when associated with a predictor, a test, or a statistical estimator--is not always bad, in spite of the immediate negative response evoked by the word, bias. Four settings are described to illustrate situations in which a procedure should not be summarily rejected due to bias: (1) educational researchers rejected the…

To prepare for implementing competency based education, a system to categorize diagnostic and prescriptive materials was needed. The Annehurst Curriculum Classification System (ACCS), which provides access to curriculum resources for students and teachers, was applied at the elementary and middle school levels. Training programs on ACCS were held…

An analysis of criticism leveled against student grading is presented, and a rebuttal is offered. Twenty-two criticisms of grades are divided into four categories; that grades are meaningless, unimportant, unnecessary, and harmful. In response to the criticism, it is pointed out that grading tends to motivate student achievement, provides rewards…

Three methods of item selection were used to select sets of 38 items from a 50-item verbal analogies test and the resulting item sets were compared for internal consistency, standard errors of measurement, item difficulty, biserial item-test correlations, and relative efficiency. Three groups of 1,500 cases each were used for item selection. First…

Several measurement theorists have convincingly argued that methods of writing test questions, particularly for criterion-referenced tests, should be based on operationally defined rules. This study was designed to examine and further refine a method for objectively generating multiple-choice questions for prose instructional materials. Important…

Six approaches to assessing test item bias were examined: transformed item difficulty, point biserial correlations, chi-square, factor analysis, one parameter item characteristic curve, and three parameter item characteristic curve. Data sets for analysis were generated by a Monte Carlo technique based on the three parameter model; thus, four…

Two concerns led to the development of the screening test which is described: (1) the present 28% rate of attrition of Navy female first enlistees is too high; and (2) attrition is expected to increase when a high school diploma is no longer required for women to enter the Navy. Thus, a screening instrument was needed which could be used…

Comparisons are made of the groups of Army officers that were procured through various programs and of various categories within the Army Reserve Officers' Training Program (ROTC). The criterion for these comparisons was the final course grades in the Officer Basic Courses (OBC) of the 13 career branches. Two samples were studied; one sample…

During the 1978-79 school year, a survey was conducted of several New York State school districts, fifty-seven public and private two-year colleges, eight Educational Opportunity Centers, and thirty-six correctional institutions within the state. The secondary and postsecondary school level surveys focused on past use of and interest in…

Summaries of research and production activities for "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company" are provided in this quarterly report, as well as information on the Children's Television Workshop's community education services, public affairs, personnel, and merchandise products. A table indicating foreign countries in which…

This collection of conference presentations includes 23 papers on a variety of topics pertaining to the use of computer in New Zealand. Among the topics discussed are computer science techniques in a commercial data processing situation, data processing personnel and their careers, the communication aspects of an airline system, implementation of…

The first of three volumes of papers presented at the 1979 ADCIS convention, this collection includes most of the 30 papers presented at the general session and 34 project reports. The general session opened with seven papers on various aspects of videodisc technology and five papers describing phases in the life of CBE sites. The remaining…

Age differences in recognition and recall of common nouns were studied using three groups of fifty students, with mean ages of 6.7, 11.4, and 16.9. Subjects were randomly placed in either an incidental or intentional learning condition. All subjects were questioned about the physical, phonemic, and semantic aspects of the same words, in the same…

Threats to the validity of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System are covered in two parts: an annotated bibliography of reports concerned with technical issues, and a discussion of threats to validity--from the reporting system in general and from each model in particular. Threats common to all three evaluation models are reported:…