An analysis was done of the quality of the data supplied by respondents to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, 1987 (NPSAS:87). The NPSAS:87 was a large-scale survey that obtained extensive data on the educational, demographic, and financial aspects of postsecondary students and their parents. The study compared the responses to similar…

This paper presents the validation of an adaptive test developed for placement purposes in French at the post-secondary level, the French CAPT. Results from a second experiment are presented in which verbal protocols were obtained from nine college students of various levels with the thinking-aloud technique used during completion of the exam. The…

Two studies were conducted to develop an academic specific measure of college students' coping styles and to examine the relationship among student stress, coping style, motivation, and performance in a field setting. The measure of student coping style, the SCOPE instrument, included important academic coping strategies. For the first study,…

The release of the newest Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), Fifth Edition, is the evolution of Raymond Cattell's conceptualization of the primary components of personality by analyzing adjectives describing human behavior. This updated version continues to measure the same 16 primary personality factors with improved reliability and…

Evidence is presented for the validity and reliability of a student annotation form used to collect student reflections on work samples in portfolios. The form was designed to be general enough to apply to many grades and subjects and simple enough for students at all levels to complete. The annotation forms asked students to indicate how…

Over the years, many different labels have been used to describe nontraditional students. This study examined whether terminology used in surveys could affect respondents' answers. Two forms of a questionnaire were designed and distributed randomly to college students. One form consistently employed the terms gay, lesbian, and bisexual while the…

This research investigated the effects of homework completion on test scores for 401 undergraduate students, 94 percent African American, at an urban university in 2 levels of introductory Spanish, all with the same instructor. Five to six teacher-generated exams were administered during the course; the lowest test score for each student was…

The structure and validity of Guglielmino's Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) have been examined repeatedly. In 1979, Mourad and Torrance investigated the construct validity of the SDLRS in a study involving a random sample of 684 of the 1,500 students enrolled in the University of Georgia's Program on Gifted/Talented Education. In…

The varying impacts of three instructional environments for introductory chemistry on the inquiry skills of undergraduate students were studied. The first two environments were traditional (TR) and guided-inquiry (GI) laboratory-based instructional situations, and the third was a separate lecture course for nonscience majors that emphasized…

In Fall 1994, the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), in California, conducted a study to determine the validity of the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) placement test. The MDTP provides tests at four levels (i.e., algebra readiness, elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, and pre-calculus) and is used in the District for…

If it can be shown that the Scholastic Aptitude Test mathematics test (SAT-M) is a reasonably good predictor of success in particular mathematics courses, it may have a role as a measure of prerequisite skills. The predictive validity of the SAT-M was studied by collecting grades from freshman mathematics courses at 10 colleges (3,499 students).…

This paper describes a testing program that established job-related standards of performance and testing procedures for the technician position within a gas transportation company. New standards were being established in response to safety concerns stemming from investigations that identified training inadequacy as a cause of accidents. The job…

A field study with 178 candidates for a police promotional examination was conducted to investigate the effects of "untranslated" behavioral checklists on certain psychometric properties of an assessment center. The untranslated checklist used all behavioral responses elicited by the assessment center exercises, not just those that met a…

This paper describes a battery of evaluation instruments designed to test the language skills of limited-English-proficient (LEP) elementary school students (K-6). The battery assesses students in four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), uses educational tasks similar to those required in mainstream instruction, and reflects…

This paper reports on a content analysis of the Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS) mathematics curricular materials designed for migrant students in California. The study compared PASS curriculum content to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. The PASS Program,…