A STUDY WHICH DEALT WITH ONE ASPECT OF THE QUESTION OF WHY ONE LANGUAGE IS EASY TO COMPREHEND WHILE ANOTHER IS NOT WAS REPORTED. SPECIFICALLY, IT STUDIED THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING THE PRECISION OF READABILITY PREDICTION. THE OBJECTIVES WERE (1) TO DETERMINE THE FORMS AND STRENGTHS OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTY OF LANGUAGE…

The selection and development of six tests measuring the ability to receive and interpret nonverbal communications are described, as is an attempt to gather evidence of their value as predictors of success in two occupations requiring high levels of interpersonal skills-- psychology and counseling. The tests were: (1) Inter-Person Perception Test;…

Although the design of the writing task itself may present assessment problems, the scoring of the piece of writing raises the greatest difficulties for large-scale testing of writing ability. A study investigated whether teachers and staff members of the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) (1) scored the same way, (2) agreed with each other in…

Certain conditions are investigated as to whether they are necessary or sufficient to indicate the fairness of a test, or predictor, in its role in the college admissions procedure. Eight general positions are considered that have claimed to provide sufficient conditions for the unbiasedness of a standardized test or predictor: (1) equal test…

Potential screening and assessment methods for young children were examined with the fourfold aim of (1) determining what early factors are predictive of later child development and health status; (2) including a broad range of child problems and etiological factors, especially focusing on those for which assessment methods are most needed; (3)…

The "Trouble Shooting" Checklist (TSC) for Higher Educational Settings has been developed to assist educational change agents, faculty, and administrators concerned with change, in their assessment of organizational variables predictive of a department's potential for successfully adopting innovations. The higher educational based TSC is both…

Research has provided few guidelines or criteria which can be utilized by college deans to decide which academically dismissed students have the highest probability of success once readmitted. In this study, measures of student characteristics were sought which correlate with academic performance. 360 admission applicants, of whom 181 sought…

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics which describe high school dropouts. The investigation attempted to identify variables which would assist in differentiating persisters and withdrawals at Northeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri and in predicting dropouts at East High School on the basis of variable weightings drawn…

To determine whether a relationship existed between ACT composite scores and academic success in courses in Accounting I, Quantitative Business Analysis I, and Physical Science at Rhode Island Junior College, random samples of ACT scores of about 70 students in each course were studied. To establish predictability, correlation techniques were…

Two approaches were used to predict State Board Examinations (SBE) results for students in four schools of nursing. Multiple regression was used to predict scores of 191 nurses who graduated and took the SBE. Discriminant function analysis was used for 375 nursing students to predict students who would take and pass the SBE from those who would…

A new validation procedure was developed for the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) foreign language placement tests. The procedure recommended by CEEB determines if individuals with high and low scores (1) in the same course and (2) from courses at various levels, score differentially on the CEEB tests. If both these differences are…

There are many potential sources of test bias besides that of the particular item content within the test. The other potential sources, designated here as program and utilization must also be encompassed in any thorough and effective program to increase the accuracy of assessment for members of ethnic minorities. As usual, the research findings…

A new variant of the standard method for estimating the accuracy of educational tests is examined. It is found that the estimates produced by the new method are essentially unbiased and that the typical sizes of the errors of the estimates approach their theoretical lower limit as size increases, though they are still noticably above it for small…

This study proposes to explore characteristics not usually considered musical, and yet which might combine in persons in such a way that results may lead to a clearer understanding and more accurate measurement and prediction of musical talent. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Musical talent can be predicted by means of a selected set of variables…

The objective of the study was to predict potential procrastinators in a self-pacing instructional system. Seventy-five entering college freshmen were randomly selected to participate in a large scale individually-paced program. Those students (25) who procrastinated were classified as "no-start-procrastinators" (NSP); the remainder (52) were…