Five legal principles (and cases establishing them) on the use of competency testing in student placement or for graduation are discussed. The principles address the constitutionality of appropriate use, adequate notice to students, prohibition of effects of past racial discrimination, graduation test validity, and requirements for handicapped…

Argues that only when educators understand the mutual interaction of the educational system and the economy, join local and state coalitions to address the underlying issues producing the current fiscal crisis, and work for local control can economic conditions affecting the schools change and allow educational quality to improve. (Author/PGD)

Examined the relationship between performance on the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) and other verbal and nonverbal ability measures in a group of preschool borderline retarded children. Results tentatively support the use of the EOWPVT as a measure of verbal intelligence in this population. (Author/JAC)

Investigated teachers' ability to identify students at-risk for failure. Found correlations between teachers' ratings and standard measures of intelligence and ability of 337 sixth graders were highly significant and predictive of high school grades. At-risk students were significantly less academically able, more anxious and had lower…

Compared three methods of training remedial reading tutors. All groups made significant improvements. The group that practiced the skills and received feedback made the greatest gains. The group that observed a model was significantly better than the lecture group. (Author/JAC)

Examines the role of the computer in administering, scoring, and interpreting psychoeducational tests. Both the intelligent computer model and the computer-as-assistant model are analyzed to determine what threat they may pose to the job security of school psychologists. (Author)

Measured differences in employment issues between native Canadian Indians and a nonnative comparison group in Toronto. Given similar circumstances, found Native Canadians less formally educated and skill trained than nonnatives of comparable age, sex, and education. Respondents under 25 and over 50 earned substantially less. (Author)

Examined the relationships between the McCarthy Scales General Cognitive Index, the McCarthy Screening Test, Kaufman's McCarthy short form, and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test using a sample of elementary students. Found the Estimated General Cognitive Index by Kaufman's short form was virtually identical to the McCarthy Scales Index.…

Describes a set of Science Reasoning Tasks which are valid and reliable for assessing the ability of children to use concrete and formal reasoning strategies and can be used by science teachers without professional training in Piagetian studies. Thirty pupils can be tested on each task in about 50 minutes. (Author/DS)

Teachers in a small high school nominated students whose classroom behavior facilitates or inhibits (disrupts) the learning process. These two groups were compared on locus of control, Maslow motive hierarchies, attitudes toward crime prevention, and achievement. Results are discussed and suggestions for helping disruptive students are made. (SJL)

A closed sequential procedure for estimating true score is proposed for use with answer-until-correct tests. The accuracy of determining true score is the same as in conventional sequential solutions, but the possibility of using an unnecessarily large number of items is eliminated. (Author/CM)

An account of Project Measure (Mason City, Iowa, High School) and how this computer bank of test items helps journalism students to develop their skills in the areas of mathematics and language arts. (RL)

The effect of anxiety on learning in a variety of educational contexts is examined, and two areas of anxiety research that are especially relevant to educational psychology are discussed in detail: the interaction between anxiety and instructional methods, and test anxiety reduction programs and their outcomes. (Author/RD)

Male and female undergraduate psychology students were administered the Adjective Check List, Bem Sex Role Inventory and Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The masculinity and femininity subscale scores for each of these three measures were correlated and subjected to a principal factor analysis with varimax rotation separately for males and…

Six studies investigated the use of pictorial material in a group setting to measure the cognitive level of children (age 7 to 11) on eight Piagetian concepts. Children were low to middle socioeconomic status with 60 percent Spanish surnames. Factor analysis and clinical administration supported test validity. (Author/CTM)