Time series analysis is applied to an assessment of the temporary and permanent impact of the 1975 Australian Family Law Act and its effect on number of divorces. The application and construct validity of the model is examined. (Author/PN)

Determined the construct validity of the California Test of Personality-Secondary Level (CTP) to ascertain whether 12 components of personality are separate and meaningful (N=1,800). Findings indicated that the 180 items of the CTP are represented better as a nine-factor construct. (PAS)

Factor analyzed the Social Interest Index-Revised (SII-R), which measures levels of social interest attained in each of four life task areas. Four factors (N=308) were defined, i.e., a self-significance factor, a love factor, a friendship factor, and a work factor. Results support the empirical validity of the scale. (Author/PAS)

Describes an informal project that rescued the 1926 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from oblivion and administered it to a group of college students in 1980-81. Suggests the usefulness for this SAT as a prediction instrument today because of its excellent reliability and interest correlation. (PAS)

Offers opposing views on the value of mass testing in English. (JL)

Three item-construction principles for multiple-choice tests were studied to determine how they affected test results for high school students: (1) use of incomplete sentence stem; (2) location of blank in the stem; and (3) presence of noncueing material. Differences in item construction had a slight effect on test results. (Authors/CJ)

A shortened version of the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was developed. It yielded a coefficient alpha reliability estimated at .98, correlated .97 with the original MARS, and showed relationships with state, trait, and test anxiety parallel to the original MARS. It should be useful for mathematical course-related applications.…

The purpose of this study was to determine the difficulty level, the internal consistency, and the usefulness of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) as a predictor of college freshmen grades. Adding the NDRT to a prediction equation already containing high school grade point average did improve the prediction. (Author/BW)

Administered the Missouri Children's Picture Series (MCPS) to two groups of teacher-referred male children (N=20): one group was referred for learning problems and the other for behavioral problems. Results revealed no significant mean differences between groups. Questions are raised as to the usefulness and validity of the MCPS. (Author)

Investigated the relationship between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 4-3 high-point pair and the Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) scale in prisoners, psychology clinic outpatients, and inpatients at a state hospital. Results suggested the O-H scale and the 4-3 high-point pair are correlated and seem to measure the same types of…

Tested the degree of association between probation officers' sent and received roles and role behavior in four juvenile courts. Found the role communicated to probation officers by their superiors was predictive of the role the probation officers perceived but not of the role as enacted with juveniles. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of teacher and student ratings of classroom sources of self-esteem. The internal-consistency estimates of student ratings ranged from .72 to .87; non-zero convergent validity values ranged from .20 to .31. (Author/BW)

The attorney for the plaintiffs in Debra P. v. Turlington discusses the harmful effects and the arbitrary and unfair nature of minimum competency testing. (Author/WD)

Investigated participants' assessments of the anticipated effectiveness of their judgmental decisions in several studies. Found that their estimates were poorly and inconsistently related to objective measures of effectiveness. This result raises a need for improved approaches to assessing judgmental decisions and identifying participants who make…

In studying the effectiveness of different instructional programs, a criterion measure can favor one of the programs because there is greater overlap between the content covered on the test and in that program. This overlap can be measured using teacher estimates or teacher estimates combined with curriculum analysis. (Author/BW)