The Analysis of Developmental Learning Skills (ADLS) is a school readiness test, designed to diagnose lags in developmental skills in four and five year old children. The nine subtests are: motor coordination, visual performance, visual perception, visual memory, auditory perception, auditory memory, language development, conceptual development,…

This paper supports the hypothesis that picture vocabulary tests should not be used as interchangeable measures of intelligence for complex, lengthy intelligence tests (WISC and Stanford-Binet). In picture vocabulary tests assessing receptive functions (input), the child recognizes a word by pointing to or stating the number standing for an…

Presented are abstracts and general information on 28 instruments useful for educational assessment of severely developmentally impaired students. An introductory section provides brief discussions on the limitations of the instruments, general rules for administering standardized tests, norm referenced tests, criterion referenced tests,…

The Nebraska Assessment Battery of Essential Learning Skills (N-ABELS) is a goal-oriented instrument with an evaluation component providing a basis for determining acquisition of twelve skills defined as learning goals. Each goal is stated in terms of an acceptable performance standard which clearly describes what the student must do. The skills…

Practical methods of setting standards for the Basic Skills Assessment tests in secondary level reading, writer's skills, and mathematics are offered in this manual. An overview discusses the need for standards and includes a brief description of current practices in establishing them. In light of related social and political issues, it is advised…

This document begins with an outline of events seen as noteworthy in the search for fairness in general and includes a brief discussion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, and the Tower Amendment (Title VII). These events are placed in perspective with recent events which have impacted the notion of…

This paper provides a historical review of national standardized testing and its relation to ethnic and racial minorities. In the pre-World War I period, psychological testing was conducted on the large masses of immigrants that were arriving in the U.S., and on black and white army draftees. Generally these tests showed that black draftees and…

Presented are a manual and a screening test to assist teachers and professionals to determine the functional ability level and individual program needs of deaf blind and multiply handicapped children. It is noted that the individually administered 10-minute test, based on Gesell's developmental theory, consists of items in seven basic…

The assumptions of the Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT) model proposed by Kriewall are compared to those of Emrick and Adam's Mastery-Learning (ML) model. Testing, in the context of instructional management, serves three general purposes: performance evaluation (achievement of objectives), placement (classification of students for instruction), and…

This study surveyed 53 master's level students in two tests and measurement classes to determine if and in what fashion they had been victimized by testing and evaluation. The purpose of this activity was to acquire personal data which could be used to both dramatize and formulate criteria for the construction of classroom tests. A majority of…

This paper delineates several problems which arise when criterion-referenced test results are used to evaluate the effects of a specific educational treatment. Focus is on these topics: (1) the aggregation of individual students' data on objectives, (2) the sensitivity of the instrument to instruction, (3) the interpretation of…

Discussed are characteristics of criterion referenced reading tests for use with learning disabled (LD) children, and analyzed are the Basic Educational Skills Inventory (BESI), the Prescriptive Reading Inventory (PRI), and the Cooper-McGuire Diagnostic Work-Analysis Test (CooperMcGuire). Criterion referenced tests are defined; and problems in…

The University of Washington (UW) investigated the use of three general examinations of the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) to increase flexibility in curricular arrangements, to assess the impact of curriculum upon student learning, and to formulate upper-division matriculation standards. Tests were administered to a sample of 333…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of intelligence test results communicated to teachers in various ways by elementary school counselors on (a) teachers' perceptions, and (b) subsequent student achievement and IQ scores. Teacher awareness of student IQ appeared not to influence, to a statistically significant degree, her…

Recent harsh criticisms that educational and psychological tests are unfair and inadequate measures of the capabilities of minority, poverty, and other educationally alienated groups are discussed. The authors suggest that there are two main issues, the first scientific, the second ethical: (1) Is a test a valid measure of the characteristics it…