Since 1972, guidance counselors at the City College of San Francisco have been using a computerized system called the Computer Assisted Occupational Survey (CAOS) to help students make career choices. CAOS uses a battery of aptitude tests to measure verbal and numerical abilities, spatial visualization, clerical perception, and general learning…

Performance tests are considered significant instruments in facilitating the accurate assessment of an individual's overall competency. The importance of measuring performance and the advantages of using performance tests are discussed. Developing the test involves identifying the objectives to be measured, the task to be performed, and the time…

According to a survey report of the Student Guidance Center at the Seoul National University, approximately thirty percent of the freshmen expressed the desire to be transferred to other departments. It was further reported that more than forty percent of them list the unsuitability of their academic departments to their interests and aptitudes as…

This article presents predictive validity data for on-job performance for a set of computerized Graphic and Interactive Processing (GRIP) tests in conjunction with data for both experimental paper-and-pencil and operational tests. Validity coefficients for job element and global criteria are reported for four different jobs. (See also EJ 161 400).…

This study identified and examined the validity of a Brunerian theory-based, aptitude-enhancing, standardized educational simulation by assessing spatial visualization ability of students assigned to simulation and non-simulation treatment groups. Results indicate the simulation increased high aptitude learners' efficiency (and initially…

Redefines intelligence as a useful, comprehensive, and flexible construct that allows its modifiability as a function of age and culture. Reviews theories on two-factor, multiple-factor, facet, and hierarchical models of trait formation based on research in developmental, cross-cultural, learning, and cognitive psychology. (Author/AOS)

Investigates whether placement of pictorial adjuncts before or after related textual material enhances instructional effectiveness for learners of varying ability. Junior high students (N=84) were randomly assigned to one or three treatments in which a diagram of the hydrologic cycle was inserted before, after, or omitted from the text. (CS)

Students' ability to validate results of their psychological tests was examined. Seniors and graduate students could reliably select their profiles from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), while college sophomores could not. College sophomores could select their Differential Aptitudes Test (DAT) profiles more confidently than their CPI…

Research findings indicate a strong relationship between computer science aptitude and general achievement and mathematical achievement among junior high students (N=69). No significant difference was found in computer science aptitude test scores for males and females. (IAH)

This article illustrates the evolution of the concept of student development in the higher education and student affairs literature. The current status of this concept is presented in a framework of 14 propositions as an agenda for scholars and practitioners in the field. (97 references) (Author/RB)

This article presents the results of three studies in the learning-potential testing of children from minority groups: (1) Test of Children's Learning Ability; (2) Learning Efficiency Battery; and (3) Learning Potential Test for Ethnic Minorities. It concludes that, although the development of culture-free tests is impossible, it is possible to…

Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) studies have been used with some frequency, yet many researchers do not understand fully what interaction effects are. Because the means for interactions involve fewer persons per mean, power to detect interaction effects is typically smallest for the highest-order interaction in a given design. This phenomenon…

An important but too infrequently considered methodology that can be used in research, especially research focusing on Pearson's "r" (B. Walsh, 1996) or the multiple "R" (see B. Thompson, 1992) involves testing for moderator or mediator variable effects. As explained by M. Gall, W. Borg, and J. Gall (1996), moderator analysis…

The introduction to the theme of the issue of AVCR gives the rationale for concentrating on aptitude-treatment interaction research and summarizes and comments on the contribution of each author. (Author)

A discussion which proposes that ATI may be of interest as a descriptive science, but is unnecessary for adapting instruction to individuals. Suggestions that individuals should adapt instruction to their own needs and that the task of the instructional developer is to make this possible. (Author/HB)