The "nuts and bolts" of test construction concern the following areas: (1) common problems in test construction, (2) successful test formats, (3) specific testing concerns in the French individualized program (IFP) at the Ohio State University, and (4) references to help the test constructor. The specific problems considered deal with whether or…

Project ALMS (Adult Literacy Mission Support) was designed to improve the communication skills of semi-literate or illiterate adults, help participants become more self-sufficient, provide an ongoing program for other such individuals, and provide a manual of guidelines and suggestions for other programs. Three groups were established to make a…

Test results of 1,902 Los Angeles City College students taking the Guidance Examination's Survey of Reading Achievement (SRA) in Fall 1979 were analyzed and compared, where applicable, with SRA scores for 1976, 1977, and 1978. Variables analyzed were raw score, grade level equivalent, English course recommendation, sex, and last high school and…

This paper discusses an investigation that compared college students' reading gains when using general or specific diagnosis. It reports that significant gains were made on many subskills of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test by the group that had the prescriptions developed as a result of a differential (specific) diagnosis and that there were…

Based on the view that text-specific concept and vocabulary knowledge affect the processing and recall of text and that a measure of this knowledge might assist teachers in determining whether a reader possesses adequate background to successfully comprehend and recall a particular text, a study was conducted. Its purpose was to develop a measure…

Five essays for reading instructors at two-year colleges are provided in this issue of "Forum for Reading." First, Kent Smith notes the increased recruitment of underprepared students and argues that colleges are responsible for assuring that admissions personnel, administrators, and faculty know the types of students they can and cannot…

Teachers in the Chula Vista Rosebank Title IV Project, Individual Diagnosis and Prescription for a Total School, use these test manuals and corresponding teaching guides to measure and improve reading and mathematics skills of students, kindergarten through junior high school. Parts I and III contain tests and directions for administering the…

A study was conducted to measure the effect and compare the results of developmental reading instruction for college students as prescribed from the specific results of a diagnostic reading test and a general, more traditionally used, survey reading test. The sample consisted of 226 students enrolled in different sections of a reading course…

A REVIEW OF 124 ARTICLES PERTAINING TO COLLEGE AND ADULT READING WHICH APPEARED IN THE PERIODICAL LITERATURE IS PRESENTED. THE ARTICLES ARE TREATED WITHIN THE FOLLOWING AREAS--(1) PROGRAMS, INCLUDING READING AND STUDY HABITS, TRAITS, AND SKILLS, (2) THE INFLUENCE OF READING, STUDY HABITS, AND SKILLS, (3) THE FACTORS INFLUENCING READING AND OTHER…

THIS STUDY COMPARED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A STANDARD BASAL READING PROGRAM WITH AN INDIVIDUALIZED READING PROGRAM WHICH INCORPORATED (1) A PROGRAM OF PHONETIC SKILLS, (2) WORD RECOGNITION, (3) COMPREHENSION SKILLS, AND (4) A PROGRAM OF STORY READING. TWELVE COMBINATION FIRST- AND SECOND-GRADE INDIVIDUALIZED READING CLASSES WERE PAIRED WITH 12 BASAL…

A study was conducted to explore the relationship of race and socioeconomic status to the learning of reading skills among ninth-grade black and white students in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, city and county schools. Each student was given diagnostic reading tests by timed, untimed, and auditory administration. Socioeconomic status was measured by…

The New York State Preliminary Competency Test in Reading is designed to measure a student's ability to understand written material of varying levels of difficulty. Results are used to evaluate a student's current level of achievement in reading and to indicate the extent of compensatory or remedial help which may be necessary to pass the final…

This ESEA Title III program description was designed as a practical aid for beginning remedial reading teachers in an elementary school that does not employ an experienced or qualified remedial reading instructor. Useful information is given about the identification of students reading below their grade level expectancy and about the diagnosis and…

This publication summarizes the responses of reading teachers to a questionnaire about teaching reading in the secondary school. The information is divided into six sections. The first section lists components of a secondary reading program, describes current and proposed model secondary reading programs, and lists prospective secondary teachers'…

In accordance with an English Department decision to change from the Purdue English Placement Test to the Cooperative English Test, the Research Office of El Camino College (ECC) coordinated changes for scoring and computer operations while attempting to maintain the existing student placement system, preserve the ratio of students assigned to the…