In an appraisal of proficiency tests currently available for English as a second language (ESL), it is found that linguistic competence, rather than communicative proficiency, is being measured. Problems involved in developing standardized communicative tests for use with different age groups in a multicultural school context are discussed.…

An interactive computer simulation program has been developed at Northern Illinois University for use by undergraduate students majoring in special education. It was designed so that these students could learn to evaluate the exceptional student using diagnostic and remediation skills. Initially, the special education undergraduate is given only…

Measurement disturbances, such as guessing, startup, and plodding, often result in an examinee's ability being either over- or under-estimated by the maximum likelihood estimation employed in latent trait psychometric models. Several authors have suggested methods to lessen the impact of unexpected responses on the ability estimation process. This…

Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS) was designed by the Psychological Corporation to yield criterion-referenced information as well as normative scores. The constraints imposed by this dual purpose were increased by the requirements inherent in an individually-administered format and the short testing time consistent with test use…

The typical approach to studying the cognitive competencies of the elderly involves giving the same task to samples of elderly adults and college students. On such comparisons of performance of cognitive tasks, the elderly have almost always been found to be inferior, which is interpreted as indicating an irreversible age-determined decline in…

A teacher training program was implemented over a 2-year period in cooperation with the Tucson Unified School District, where over 28% of the students have been identified as having a primary language other than English. The goal of the training was to provide a forum wherein teachers and administrators would explore the application of…

Sixty subjects, 30 males and 30 females, grades 7-9, were given an estimation and comparison mathematics test consisting of high and low difficulty level problems. Performances as measured by total error scores were compared as functions of sex and anxiety separately for high and low difficulty problems. There was a significant main effect of…

The National Teacher Examination (NTE) validation and cut score determination procedures for use in teacher certification in Arkansas are discussed. The NTE area examinations to be validated were selected by the Arkansas Department of Education, which compared the state's certification requirements with the NTE's rationale, content, and scope…

A needs assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is presented. It deals with cost, design and technical issues, and utility. Suggestions include cost reduction via assessment schedule cutbacks and re-use of released NAEP exercises; and a shift from federal to private funding by selling NAEP exercises with interpretative…

Content, instructional, and curricular validity, as related to certification tests, are examined. All three deal with content validity but the domain differs among the the three. Certification tests must have instructional validity, i.e., the test must be valid both with respect to the domain used to define the minimum competencies and the…

A test battery termed "Assessment of Reading and Language Maturity" (ALARM) contains 15 subtests designed to cover the major and minor elements involved in assessing and promoting progress toward reading-language-thinking and social-emotional maturity. Although still undergoing development, ALARM has been administered to and partially…

A convenience sample of 46 subjects was selected from 104 elementary through secondary self-selected students who participated in a prototypical voluntary after-school and summer computer camp operated by an American southwestern nonprofit educational research laboratory. Following an initial 16-hour exposure to LOGO and Bank Street Writer, a…

To support the construct validity of a locally developed, sixth grade reading achievement test, an investigation of factorial invariance was made across 1556 majority, 327 Black minority, and 136 Asian minority examinees. Although the hypothesis of a unidimensional factor pattern was retained for each group, hypotheses of equal factor weights…

Tips to help persons involved with law-related education (LRE) take advantage of the current demands for educational reform are presented in this special issue, which explores how ferment for reform in education can be a boon to legal education as long as LRE educators understand the changes that are taking place and are alert to ways of making…

Several common assumptions about human intelligence are challenged in this paper. The "bucket" theory of intelligence describes intelligence as a stable psychological characteristic which affects learning, and which, when accurately measured, predicts an individual's learning capacity. The authors reject the idea that people who have…