In the spring of 1975, the High/Scope Productive Language Assessment Tasks (PLAT) were administered to virtually all second-grade and third-grade children at five centers, who had been enrolled in the Follow Through program since entering school; the PLAT was also administered to groups of non-Follow-Through children at four of five sites.…

A survey of grade 12 students in Ontario, conducted in spring 1973, sought to identify what factors influence an adolescent's future educational and vocational plans. A followup telephone survey of the same grade 12 students was conducted in November 1973 to evaluate the predictive utility of an "intentions" survey. The objectives of…

The study attempts to verify the affective competencies which vocational-technical areas in common require of students, and to validate those required in agriculture, business and office, distributive, home economics, and industrial education. The affective competencies were identified so that they might be a major part of the learning sequence,…

The problem of this study was to find criteria, and a model, for judging written expression at the elementary level which can produce concordance of teacher judgments and be a possible basis for prescriptive teaching. Such a model was developed by the Affton School District. This study attempts to determine its utility. Twenty-four essays were…

The purpose of this study was the development and validation of a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess the formal stage of development as defined by Piaget. Initially, a 42-item test was constructed; item content included syllogisms, verbal analogies, combinatorial and probabilistic reasoning, and questions similar to Piagetian tasks. This…

This report is the second part of a study designed to construct a test for measuring musical aptitude of persons from various age groups. It covers the construction of the test, material, item analysis, reliability, validity, and possible future steps. The test is composed of musical recordings, determined from pilot studies, that the test groups…

Predicting student success in various academic situations has traditionally been via the use of cognitive pre-tests, or other non-attitudinal measures. A study grouped students, (approximately 75 percent female, primarily college sophomores enrolled in a semester-length audiovisual course), according to individual pro-instructional expectancy…

This report documents the theory, structure, and implementation of a performance processor (written in FORTRAN IV) that can accept performance demonstration data representing various levels of operator's skill and, under user control, analyze data to provide candidate performance measures and validation test results. The processor accepts two…

Examined are several tests designed to measure language development in retarded children and possible options for research. Past attempts (such as Berko's Test of Morphology) to evaluate retarded children's linguistic development are criticized for inadequate language definitions and invalid testing methods. Suggestions for data-gathering options…

The purpose of this study was the construction of a theoretical model for analyzing mathematical problem solving. A list of general problem-solving abilities was generated through a literature search. This list was narrowed to eight basic abilities pertinent to mathematics problem solving. Each of these was operationally defined and exemplified in…

This report describes the rationale, development, technical characteristics, and use of the ACT Interest Inventory, which provides both descriptive information about an individual's interests and information to facilitate focused exploration of educational and career alternatives. The report begins with consideration of the question, "What…

The result of the application of Kelly's (1955) psychology of personal constructs to education is a personal construct model of teaching which reflects itself both in a series of five propositions (based on Kelly's postulates) and a measurement technique, the Tuckman Teacher Feedback Form (TTFF), which is appropriate for determining teacher…

This chapter presents a number of problems related to designing local-level summative evaluation studies and suggests solutions to these problems. Three general areas are covered. First, many of the motivational, organizational, and attitudinal constraints likely to face the local-level evaluator are discussed. Second, various threats to the…

Recent trends in college admissions are discussed in terms of their influence test validation procedures. In particular, the effects of new college admission practices are considered with respect to the problem of validating placement tests. Traditional test validation techniques are reviewed and compared to the needs specific to placement tests;…

A modified version of Super's Work Values Inventory (WVI) was administered to third and fifth grade students in a medium-size industrial community. The original WVI was administered to 9th and 11th grade students in the same community. Internal consistency coefficients, construct validity and ordering of work values are reported by grade and sex.…