Although predictive validation is the primary method of justifying a particular work sample for use as an assessment device, content validation is being recognized as an alternative strategy. Confusion exists over whether content validity should refer to the representativeness of the work sample, in terms of tasks to be performed, or behavioral…

Whether a change in dental students' attitudes toward three preselected concepts would occur as a result of a traditionally difficult dental education course as measured by the semantic differential method is determined. This study attempted to determine the predictive value of a student's attitudes in determining his/her final grade. The sample…

The ways in which students' perceptions of teacher behavior in the elementary school classroom clarifies the relationships among teacher expectations, student expectations, and student achievement are examined. Subjects in two data sets consisted of 234 grade 4-6 students from 16 classrooms in an urban, ethnically mixed school district, and 101…

The psychometric adequacy of three sex role instruments was determined by performing a factor analysis on the items in the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, and Heilbrun's Masculinity and Feminity Subscales. Subjects were 400 college students who responded to 116 bipolar items from the three instruments. The eleven…

Key findings of a pilot study of the Alaska Instructional Diagnostic System (AIDS) are summarized. The AIDS pilot test served to verify the appropriateness of the skills survey as well as the validity and reliability of the items. The AIDS testing system includes three components: (1) upper level skills surveys (grades 3-8); (2) lower level skill…

Technical considerations associated with item selection and reliability assessment are considered in relation to criterion-referenced tests constructed to provide group information. The purpose is to emphasize test building and the evaluation of test scores in program evaluation studies. It is stressed that an evaluator employ a performance or…

The Decoding Skills Test (DST) was developed to provide a detailed measurement of decoding skills which could be used in research on developmental dyslexia. Another purpose of the test is to provide a diagnostic-prescriptive instrument to be used in the evaluation of, and program planning for, children needing remedial reading. The test is…

The effects of training and participation on sources of variance in a set of ratings of college classroom teaching effectiveness were compared. College students (N=96) were randomly assigned to four cells of the experimental design. Subjects in cells (A) and (B) participated in the construction of a set of behaviorally-anchored rating scales…

A brief discussion of the concept of validity, a description of the nature and purposes of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), and a rationale for the inclusion of ITED results as part of the overall program evaluation of a secondary school are presented. According to the authors, the ITED can validly be used as one of the…

Sex restrictiveness and sex bias in occupational interest scales are reviewed, and some alternative solutions are briefly discussed. Traditionally, it was thought that sex restrictive interest inventories merely reflected the inherent differences between males and females. The author defines sex restrictiveness according to the degree that the…

A questionnaire survey was developed to measure the attitudes of students toward the Air Force Traffic Safety Course. Mandatory for virtually all personnel entering the Air Force, this course was taught in a standardized multimedia format at more than 140 locations . It was a 10-hour course of instruction covering environmental hazards, vehicle…

Testing in the United States has had a checkered history since tests were developed and used at the beginning of this century. In the earlier part of the century, test results were used to justify the exclusion of immigrants from parts of Europe. More recently, they have come under attack as restricting the access of blacks to jobs and education.…

The use of data on longitudinal student attendance patterns to determine variances, and hence confidence bounds, on student enrollment forecasts, in addition to finding the forecasts themselves, is demonstrated. The formulation of the enrollment model based on longitudinal student attendance patterns is described step by step, presenting the…

A system of interaction analysis, the Hit-Steer Observation System, was used to characterize interaction patterns of groups of teachers and principals. Evidence for an asymmetrically contingent pattern of interaction between the principals and teachers was provided by findings that principals made more verbalizations than teachers, as well as more…

Two research reports are included in this document. The first is a study of children's anxiety. A sixteen-item trait anxiety scale was used on a population of students in grades 4 through 6. The first ten items measured anxiety about making mistakes in performing physical education activities, and the remaining six items measured general anxiety.…