To help college reading teachers develop an awareness of what standardized reading tests do and do not reveal about students' reading abilities, a study examined the testing of reading and criticized four major standardized tests. Results indicated that reading is tested through (1) reading passages accompanied by multiple choice questions, (2)…

The development of the Parent Attitudes toward School Effectiveness (PATSE) questionnaire was conducted in two phases. The pilot test form contained 47 items reflecting parents' attitudes toward 6 categories: (1) school and community relationships; (2) clear school mission; (3) high expectations; (4) safe and orderly environment; (5) instructional…

Basic skills tests in which measurement of growth is defined in the context of national norms are discussed. An integral part of the construction of norms is the production of a trait or ability score which is normed. Test publishers define a multidimensional trait by including items which measure it. The trait as a construct is a distinct…

The study reported here sought to establish the predictive validity of the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP), an instrument designed to identify preschool children at risk for school-related problems in the primary years. Children (N=338) in 11 states who were originally tested in 1980 as part of the MAP standardization project were given a…

The Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CCFIT) was administered to a large sample of American, Nigerian, and Indian adolescents, and item data were examined for cultural bias. The CCFIT was designed to measure fluid intelligence, which is not influenced by cultural differences. Four different item analysis techniques were used to determine…

The subsequent school progress of children who attended the Get Set Day Care (GSDC) or Prekindergarten Head Start (PKHS) preschool programs compared to peers who had a different type or no preschool experience is examined in this document. The study corroborates the two major findings of the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies: that preschool…

To examine the validity of short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the WISC-R was first administered to 106 hospitalized psychiatric patients, aged 8-16. No subjects had a primary diagnosis of mental retardation or learning disability, and one-third were receiving psychotropic medication. WISC-R IQ scores…

A reliability study of the Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills (CIBS) is presented. All test-data collectors were provided onsite training in the administration and scoring of the CIBS. The sample included 85 black and 319 white students from grades two through eight, from parochial and private schools, in a southeastern metropolitan…

The Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers is a basic literacy test that was administered to 202,000 practicing educators in March 1986. An in-depth case study was undertaken to examine the effects of the test as an instrument of educational reform and policy making. The two-year study involved 10 separate data-collection phases…

An introduction by Barbara S. Plake emphasizes that this volume investigates social and technical influences on test development and usage. Essential preliminary information on how tests can be used and may be interpreted is presented. Under the heading "Social and Technical Influences" are: (1) "Struggles and Possibilities: The Use…

A frequently used method of measuring teaching effectiveness is the anonymous student rating of the instructor at the end of a grading period. The validity of these ratings for faculty personnel decisions has been a source of controversy. The purposes of this study were to examine the differences in teaching effectiveness between selected courses;…

Guidelines are presented for use by school personnel in reviewing and improving locally developed proficiency tests used in meeting the requirements of the California Pupil Proficiency Law. The guide is organized in three main chapters on test construction, test validation, and test documentation. The test construction chapter focuses on issues…

Old Order Amish are readily distinguishable from others in society by their dissociation from "modern" convenience and dress. Students in an Old Order Amish school in Iowa receive instruction in language arts from a secular basal language arts workbook, and a basal reader containing biblical stories. Comprehension of content is evaluated…

Items from two American instruments (Students' Evaluation of Educational Effectiveness, and the Endeavor instrument) designed to measure students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness were translated into Spanish and administered to a sample of Spanish university students. Most of the items were judged by the students to be appropriate; every…

A common thread in contemporary research in student learning refers to the ways in which students go about learning. A theory of learning is presented that accentuates the interaction between the person and the situation. Research evidence implies a form of meta-cognition called meta-learning, the awareness of students of their own learning…