Research findings are reported that suggest that valid interpretation of assessment scores on illiterate and preliterate learners requires the use of ethnographic data. Data from observation notes, photos, and audiotapes indicated that learners' understanding of their tasks affected their performance in assessment situations. Previous findings…

The doctoral thesis summarized in this document investigated which set of teacher education program admissions criteria best predict achievement by examining the relationship between outcomes in the teacher education program and test scores and other indicators of academic achievement. The particular problem was to determine the predictive value…

The Student Descriptor Scale (SDS) was developed as a validation measure to determine whether students described and counted by states as "severely handicapped" were, indeed, students with severe disabilities. The SDS addresses nine characteristics: intellectual disability, health impairment, need for toileting assistance, upper torso motor…

This paper reports the results of using a three-layer backpropagation artificial neural network to predict item difficulty in a reading comprehension test. Two network structures were developed, one with and one without a sigmoid function in the output processing unit. The data set, which consisted of a table of coded test items and corresponding…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine if comparisons between scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) are justifiable. The test scores of 216 Iranian graduate students who took the TOEFL and IELTS, as well as the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Higher…

The ability of the Rasch model computer program BIGSTEPS to perform concurrent calibration and differences in the outcomes between vertical equating using a common item anchoring method and a common item concurrent calibration method was examined. The data for the investigation came from two Chinese language tests that researchers wished to…

The aims of the present study were threefold: (1) to test for the equivalency of an hierarchical three-factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) across English and French versions for non-clinical adolescents; (2) given evidence of poor model fit, to validate the factorial structure of the BDI French version across three independent…

Validity data were collected on tests from five aptitude clusters: information-processing (IP) componential skills, IP metacomponential skills, practical intellectual skills, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive speed. In addition, the IP activities underlying learning were elucidated. IP componential data were derived via two approaches. The…

Faculty members in departments of chemistry, computer science, and education were surveyed to collect information on the content representativeness of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Advanced Tests in those disciplines. Faculty respondents allocated percentages to each of the major content categories of the specifications for the tests to…

This report cumulates the results of 515 validation studies carried out over a 45-year period by the United States Employment Service, and relates these findings to five systems of job classification and job analysis. Correction for sampling error shows that general cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor ability are valid predictors of job…

The Adult Performance Level (APL) project, which developed and validated a series of objectives for adult functional competency free from school-based notions of literacy, is the most widely accepted approach to adult literacy and adult literacy education in the United States today. Yet a review of the project and its impact reveals that the APL…

A tool was devised to measure the perceived reality of television, an important variable in understanding how television influences an individual's perception of social reality. This was accomplished by using a research plan that allowed university subjects to generate the measures used for tapping the "reality" of television content.…

The literature from 1973-1983 on student ratings of faculty teaching effectiveness is reviewed. Among the consistent findings over the decade are the following: high student rating scale reliability, the limited influence of instructor and student demographic variables on student ratings of teacher effectiveness, and faculty perceptions that…

The discussed and illustrated principles regarding teacher performance data and decision making are common sense ideas that have been developed based on a good deal of thought about the definition of minimally acceptable job performances. The presented scoring systems are ways of describing how much a teacher must do in order to be scored…

The criterion most frequently used in studies designed to assess the predictive validity of measures used in college admission has been the freshman-year grade point average (GPA). It is not self-evident that the first-year GPA provides either a sufficient or a representative sample of a student's academic performance. Questions have been raised…