Sample guides for both holistic and analytic scoring of elementary school students' writing samples were written by the California State Department of Education. This article describes how the guides were developed and validated and explains complementary uses for the two types of scoring. (PP)

A conceptual analysis of gain scores and a technically sound procedure for using such scores to compare different instructional programs are presented. The procedure proposed makes use of an index called Rescaled and Adjusted Gains within Strata (RAGS), together with a flexible but explicit procedure for score analysis and reporting. (LC)

Evaluated techniques for identifying faking on the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC). Undergraduate students (N=70) completed PICs on their child either faking bad, faking good, or legitimate. Results were cross-validated against a clinical sample. Results indicated a clinician cannot be certain a PIC profile is valid. (JAC)

Explored the relationship between the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) for 37 Native American children. The PPVT-R standard scores correlated significantly with the WISCR-R Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ. The mean PPVT-R standard score was significantly…

Undergraduates (38 female and 9 male) completed Jackson's 1967 Personality Research Form to determine whether college students can confirm the accuracy of their own personality test results. Significant correlations between standard scores and subsequent accuracy ratings indicate that college students are able to assist in the confirmation of test…

Reanalyzed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised subtest scores in Dean's 1978 study of learning disabled and emotionally disturbed children. Analysis revealed a marked similarity between the groups. Results support Sattler's contention that Dean's data do not present evidence of a perceptual organization deficit in learning…

Suggests improper application of standardized IQ tests may misidentify or underrefer thousands of intellectually gifted students each year. Presents 10 hazards that can bias IQ scores of gifted children and cautions psychological examiners and consumers of IQ test information to be aware of these hazards. (Author/AH)

Student responses to a set of evaluation questions were cluster analyzed to establish homogeneous subgroups of students (within classes) who exhibited distinct evaluation profiles. The investigators recommend reporting profiles from clusters of student ratings is far superior to the typical reporting of evaluation results. (Author/PN)

Provides necessary statistical information for comparing subtests of the Test of Language Development-Primary (TOLD-P) to an individual's mean scaled score at each of five age levels. While it would be convenient to use the average of these values across the age levels, this procedure is inappropriate for the TOLD-P. (Author/JAC)

Many teachers are hesitant to use test results because they do not believe they have sufficient training in measurement. Inappropriate test use is a threat, but teachers like tests if the tests are compatible with classroom instruction and results are not used to the exclusion of other types of information. (Author/CM)

Scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) from 250 children were factor analyzed. Results offered support for interpreting WISC-R scores in terms of verbal and performance scales and for interpreting WRAT scores as a separate achievement factor. (Author/HLM)

Addressing Glass' argument (EJ 198 842) that a lack of interrelater reliability is an inherent deficiency in the Nedelsky technique, poor rater training and the need for a group decision procedure are presented as standard setting problems. (CM)