Written by an ex-Latin teacher, short-cuts to analyzing test results for the non-mathematical teacher are provided. Discussions are given of item analysis (item analysis by a show of hands, standards for test items: success, standards for test items: discrimination, and the second stage of item analysis. The standard error is then presented (the…

The standard error of measurement as a means for estimating the margin of error that should be allowed for in test scores is discussed. The true score measures the performance that is characteristic of the person tested; the variations, plus and minus, around the true score describe a characteristic of the test. When the standard deviation is used…

A pair comparison scale for measuring aesthetic judgment which could be used with four and five year old children was developed by having art experts independently judge for "aesthetic quality" color slides representing a variety of stimuli on an eleven-point successive category scale. The scale was administered to forty children on two…

Problems in assessing the validity and reliability of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) tests of the inquiry skills of biology students are discussed by reference to the first trial version of the first Explorations in Biology (EIB) booklets. Since students learn during the two parts of the test, coefficients of stability…

One hundred and fifteen first graders were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Experimental pupils used the Visual Tracking program, and the control pupils participated in directed listening activities in separate rooms. The teachers followed a weekly rotating schedule in supervising the groups. After 12 weeks of training,…

Violations of four selected principles of writing multiple-choice items were introduced into an undergraduate religion course mid-term examination. Three of the flaws significantly increased test difficulty. KR-sub-20 values were lower for all of the tests containing the flawed items than for the "good" versions of the items but significantly so…

An experiment was conducted to find a better method of marking English composition than that which is in general use. The method tested was one in which each composition was assessed independently by three markers who judged the general impression of the writing, and by a fourth marker who applied a code of penalties for mechanical errors. Brief…

Two general areas of instructional validation are discussed: internal validation, which occurs within the framework of a single environment, and external validation, which involves the comparison of two different environmental frameworks. Several sample and basic designs are presented which may be used to validate instructional material. Two…

Some theoretical concerns for competency-based evaluation instruments are discussed, and means of examining these instruments for validity and reliability are presented. The areas of concern include descriptions of the behavior, the level of response, and the nature of the evaluation. Two different types of instruments are examined to determine…

The contribution of a 20-minute essay question, given as part of the one-hour achievement test in American History and Social Studies, to the pool of information available on a candidate from an all-objective examination of the College Board Admissions Testing Program is presented in this report. The study limits itself to a consideration of the…

Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale, Gilligan, et al.'s Sexual Moral Judgment Scale, Maitland and Goldman's Objective Moral Judgment Scale, and Hogan's Maturity of Moral Judgment Scale were examined for reliability and inter-scale relationships. All measures except the Objective Moral Judgment Scale had good reliabilities. The obtained relations…

The objectives of the project were to (1) determine whether students making a subjective evaluation of other students will tend to grade their friends higher than others they do not know as well, (2) whether the use of an evaluation instrument reduces the subjectivitiy of student judgment, and (3) what differences there may be between a grade…

Sixty-nine students in grades 9, 10, and 11 were tested with three of Viktor Lowenfeld's visual-haptic tests in an attempt to ascertain whether students at these levels segregated in a fashion similar to Lowenfeld's sample. Respondents were spread over the visual-haptic continuum as Lowenfeld suggested they should be. However, a large and…

Over forty articles dealing with studies of affective variables were analyzed in this report of the Elementary School Subcommittee of the National Council on Measurement in Education's Task Force on Measurement of Affective Outcomes. The measurement problems were of both a theoretical and practical nature. The greatest practical problem is…

Using the concepts of conditional probability, conditional expectation, and conditional independence, the main results of the classical test theory model can be derived in a very few steps with minimal assumptions. The present effort explores the possibility that present classical test theories can be further condensed. (Author/RC)