Describes the Group Comprehension Matrix and the Individual Comprehension Matrix, assessment instruments that teachers can use to help them make student placement decisions. (FL)

National Assessment of Educational Progress reading data were scaled using a unidimensional item response theory model. Bock's full-information factor analysis and Rosenbaum's test of unidimensionality were applied. Conclusions about unidimensionality for balanced incomplete block spiralled data were the same as for complete data. (Author/GDC)

Covariance structure modeling by LISREL was used in an analysis of relations between intellectual ability, as measured by the Finnish version of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), and achievement in reading, writing, foreign language, and mathematics in longitudinal data on 234 Finnish school children. The validity of the ITPA…

The authors discuss the following questions: Who should run a GED (General Educational Development) program? How should the program be administered? How can schools best prepare their students to take the GED tests? (CT)

The predictive validity of the California Achievement Test, Reading (CAT-R) was examined for 480 Hispanic and Anglo pupils in Grades 2 and 3. The validity of the CAT-R as a predictor for reading for combined groups of Hispanic and Anglo pupils appeared to be limited. (Author/LMO)

Investigated whether structuring textbook reading passages in accordance with a deductive concept presentation strategy affects students' concept attainment. Results showed that good and average readers scored significantly higher in concept attainment with structuring, but that poor readers failed to show improvement. (TRS)

Finds some evidence that out-of-level tests are more suitable and reliable for poor readers than are on-level tests. (FL)

Latent class modeling procedures were used in exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the prerequisite relations among five types of text-based inference question tasks for good and poor sixth-grade readers. All tasks types provided separate manifestations of the same underlying attribute for both good and poor readers. (Author/BS)

The relationship between reading scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) was investigated, along with the tests' predictive validities for medical school achievement. Although NDRT was better as a single predictor of achievement, it has limitations as a predictive device. (SW)

The Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns acknowledges the complexity and importance of the reading process, and speaks of the vigorous research activity in reading; but it examines the reading process in a limited and unnatural fashion, and ignores some of the most potent research findings. (BW)

Reports that reading performance on a standardized test is better when the text is displayed in print, rather than on a computer display screen. (HOD)

Concludes that there are numerous problems with the test studied. Argues that the abilities it assesses and their relationship to reading and reading instruction are not sufficiently understood to warrant the test's use. (FL)

Considers the nature of receptive language proficiency, the nature of performance on language tests, and possible improvements in receptive language testing. Emphasizes how testing of reading comprehension and testing of listening comprehension raise similar concerns which should be addressed in the design of receptive language tests. (SED)

Responds to Michael Canale's paper, "Considerations in the Testing of Reading and Listening Proficiency." Approaches Canale's three points of discussion from a textual point of view. Discusses the kinds of language materials likely to be encountered in texts at selected proficiency levels and how this material may be tested. (SED)

The miscues of thirty randomly chosen third-year French students in four high schools were examined and analyzed to discover the strategies they used. (Author/RM)