The paper focuses on three critical programming issues in providing support services to higher education students with learning disabilities. The first issue concerns the garnering of administrative support for students with learning disabilities. Administrative support cannot be effectively achieved until college administrators determine where…

This paper investigates the problems of the impact of grouping on measuring academic performance. It focuses on inferences made from the group level to the individual level. Data for a large state college system with over 30 individual colleges is used. The problem of aggregation bias is studied using the analysis of covariance and is related to…

Criticism of standardized tests is extensive, and a number of claims of test misuse have been made. Test misuse is discussed in six common circumstances. (1) Test users accept the title of a test as an accurate and complete description of the variable being measured, not having full knowledge of the test, its items, and the test manual. A…

This report describes courseware for comprehensive computer-assisted testing and instruction. With this program, a personal computer can be used to: (1) generate multiple test versions to meet test objectives; (2) create study guides for self-directed learning; and (3) evaluate student and teacher performance. Numerous multiple-choice examples,…

The Parent Opinion Inventory was developed to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess parents' attitudes toward their children's school and its programs; (2) to provide an opportunity for parents to make specific recommendations for improvement; and (3) to provide decision-making data relative to program development, policy formation, administrative…

An important part of any school's self-evaluation is student input or feedback. This inventory was developed in order to accomplish two goals: assessing student attitudes toward many facets of the school, and providing an opportunity for students to make recommendations for improvement. Thirty-four multiple choice items collect information on…

This paper presents a critique of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's (N.W.R.E.L.) review of the Mat-Sea-Cal Oral Proficiency Tests in their publication, Oral Language Tests for Bilingual Students. That publication was released in July, 1976 as a guide to administrators and program coordinators in the selection of instruments for…

Seven prepared papers, with questions from the audience and answers by participants make up the proceedings of this conference on minimum competency testing. A number of conceptual and technical problems were raised, as well as questions about the effects of minimum competency testing on the curriculum and the psychological effects of the program…

If English teachers are an endangered species, as is sometimes said, they must attempt to survive by adapting to a changing environment and explaining their work to the public. Community college teachers should teach critical reading skills by starting with materials relevant to students' lives, should teach writing by stressing conceptual skills…

As part of a series of annual evaluations of the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes of Massachusetts public-school students, this report represents the assessment of basic skills attainment of grade 12 students. The first three chapters contain a summary of the design and methodology of the testing program. The remaining five chapters…

SINCE NO TESTS OF SPANISH SPEAKING ABILITY AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL WERE AVAILABLE WHEN THE PROJECT BEGAN (1960), IT DEVISED THREE CAREFULLY CONSTRUCTED ITEMS TESTING THE SEPARATE ASPECTS OF THE SPEAKING SKILL--PHONETIC ACCURACY, STRUCTURE, AND EASE AND NATURALNESS OF EXPRESSION. A RANDOM SELECTION OF FIFTH-GRADE PUPILS WERE TESTED INDIVIDUALLY,…

Since 1972 Western Kentucky University has been evaluating graduates from the teacher education program via the Teacher Preparation Evaluation Program. Participants were identified during student teaching and followed for five years with extensive data collected during the first, third and fifth years. Part of these data included a new scale, the…

This manual is designed to accompany reports prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the 505 school districts in that state, summarizing results of the Educational Quality Assessment. The normative sample is described as being stratified on two dimensions: district enrollment and wealth. Administrative procedures are summarized.…

The purpose of this research was to develop composites of subtests of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) such that each composite score would be reliable and the various composite scores would be factorially independent of each other. Factor analysis was used to cluster the tests into composites based on the underlying…

Florida State University instituted a mandatory system to be used in making promotion and tenure decisions, in which teaching faculty were rated by their students. Under an agreement with Michigan State University, the Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS) was adapted for use on the Florida State campus. Since the data were to be used to…