The study investigated use of the AML (an 11-item scale designed to identify young children experiencing early school adjustment problems) for detecting Mexican-American, Black, Asian, and Pacific Island Head Start children "at risk" for later adjustment difficulties. All 38 participating teachers and their aides readily accepted the…

Philosophical, technical, and practical considerations in selecting and evaluating educational tests for exceptional children are discussed. The following major technical considerations are addressed: validity, reliability, sensitivity, appropriateness, objectivity, and feasibility. (SEW)

Evidence for the construct validity of Washington University's Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development is reviewed. The test has adequate validity for research purposes but is neither valid nor reliable enough to be used as a clinical instrument without further confirming data. (BH)

An experiment investigated the extent to which the results of out-of-level testing may be biased because the child given an out of level test may have had a significantly different curriculum than the children given in-level tests. Item analysis data suggested this was unlikely. (CTM)

Reports the development of a written measure of nutrition and physical fitness knowledge for use with upper elementary school students, developed as the cognitive component of an assessment instrument that also included attitude and behavior sections. (CS)

Various self-report test anxiety instruments were examined with attention given to their reliability and validity. Treatments directed toward test worry were more effective than treatments directed toward test emotionality. Self-reported test anxiety was found to decrease as a result of most treatment including pseudotherapy. (Author/CP)

To explore the hypothesized dimensionality of teachers' attitudes toward educational innovations, nine rating scales were validated to measure general change-related values; innovation-specific attitudes and behavioral orientation; adoption of innovations; attitudinal commitment to adopted innovations; and ongoing participation in change-related…

Kramer's study supporting the construct validity of the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (Firo-B) scale was replicated in this experiment. The significantly different results reported by Froehle may be due to differences in the populations sampled and in their environment. (GDC)

This study determined if mildly mentally retarded secondary school students could respond to a verbally presented multiple-choice test of social and personal knowledge. Teacher ratings were also obtained. Results supported the use of two- and three-alternative multiple choice tests. (Author/JKS)

The score distributions of the two methods of administration described in the title revealed comparable means, standard deviations, and general shape of distribution. With respect to validity coefficients, no appreciable differences were found. (JKS)

Describes a study comparing English course-level placement based on writing samples and standardized placement scores, as well as two different methods of grading writing samples. Results support the use of writing samples to supplement standardized placement scores as well as the use of a group holistic method of grading writing samples. Includes…

The Personal Progress Index, designed to assess students' knowledge at regular intervals, is administered at the McMaster University (Ontario) Faculty of Health Sciences three times annually. Feedback is provided to students, and accumulated student performance is determined for summative evaluation. Results over 4 classes (n=400) show it to be…

Investigated the psychometric integrity of the College Student Reasons for Living Inventory of suicidal behaviors in a sample of 511 undergraduate students from a large Midwestern university. Results tentatively support the scale's continued use and development. (KW)

This study assessed the predictive validity of the Urban Teacher Selection Interview (UTSI) for 68 traditional, alternative licensure, and professional development school placement teacher candidates. The UTSI attempts to predict students who will become successful teachers. Results identified only a limited number of significant predictors while…

Examined open-ended production tasks in higher level testing in French-as-a-second-language courses in the United Kingdom. The article studied the effect of teachers' linguistic background, training, experience, and ability on their marking of students' oral language tests; the reliability of marking criteria; and the validity of assessing…