Some general questions about minimum competency tests are discussed, and various methods of setting standards are reviewed with major attention devoted to those methods used for dichotomizing a continuum. Methods reviewed under the heading of Absolute Judgments of Test Content include Nedelsky's, Angoff's, Ebel's, and Jaeger's. These methods are…

Verbal responses to several tests of originality were subjectively rated for originality. The ratings were compared with the statistical frequency of these responses in two samples of test takers, 150 elementary school children and 60 college students. The elementary school children were administered three measures from the Wallach and Kogar test…

A comparison of the relative efficiency of grading systems can be based on three criteria: accuracy, familiarity, and simplicity. It is suggested that a letter grade system should replace the numerical system in India. In terms of the "accuracy" criteria, the numerical marking system provides a very inaccurate measurement of academic…

Scores on the four subtests of the old Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and the six subtests of the new edition (1978) were factor analyzed. Scores were derived from similar groups of applicants. Two-factors, verbal-general information and science-quantitative, known from previous factorial studies of the old MCAT, emerged again. Five of the…

A review of the literature concerning the relative breadths of masculine and feminine sex-role standards in our culture suggested the hypothesis that the addition of neutral items to the IT Scale for Children (a projective measure of sex-role preference) would have a greater effect on boys' scores than girls' scores. Sixteen neutral items were…

THIS PUBLICATION OF THE COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION (CSPA) EXPLAINS THE BASIC PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE WRITING, PUBLISHING, AND MANAGEMENT OF A STUDENT MAGAZINE. IT CONTAINS SECTIONS ON EDITING AND MAKE-UP, CONTENT (LITERARY, EDITORIAL, AND FEATURE MATERIAL), SCHOOL ACTIVITIES, AND ADVERTISING. AN EXPLANATION OF MAGAZINE RATINGS AND THE…

This document enables the would be evaluator to witness the evolution of an evaluation form through successive stages of development. Each stage of development is documented by examples and explanations. The subjects of the discussion are: participants' evaluation of inservice teacher workshops, observers' evaluation of participants at the…

Weighting test scores by appropriateness of confidence, has almost without exception raised the reliability of test scores. Greater gains appear to occur for the less reliable tests, but that is at least partly because the more reliable a test is to begin with, the more difficult it is to improve it. If confidence-testing allows us to weight…

This document is a manual for users of the Pupil Record of School Experience (PROSE) technique of classroom observation. PROSE is a mark-sensing sheet of paper testing 148 categories of student behavior, and providing spaces in which the recorder can indicate which of them he observes. A reproduction of the form is given and its use is carefully…

Admissible probability testing is a way of administering multiple choice tests in which a student states his subjective probability that each alternative answer is correct. His response is then scored by an admissible scoring system designed so that the student will perceive that is is in his interest to report his true subjective probability.…

After years of successful experimental grading of student essays by computer, it was necessary to design and test certain meta-strategies for automatic use in American secondary schools. First, schools were divided into four subject-matter fields (science, social studies, English, and foreign language) and three grade-levels (7-8, 9-10, 11-12).…

During early attempts to interpret factors represented in scores on the Gumpgookies test, an instrument designed to tap motivation to achieve in young children, the factors identified by ordinary factor-analytic techniques were found to be confounded by the subjects' response sets. This paper proposes a method for defining objectively irrelevant…

Scoring categories and administration instructions are given for use with the manual for the Draw-A-Classroom Test. The manual, also available, should be consulted if drawings are to be scored. This appendix to the manual is divided into five sections on space, persons, drawing the person, classroom constants, and objects. Specific details of the…

Item options of shortened forms of the Graduate Record Examination Verbal and Quantitative tests were empirically weighted by two variants of a method originally attributed to Guttman. The first method assigned to each option of an item the mean standard score on the remaining items of all subjects choosing that option. The second procedure…

The basic assumption underlying the assessment of motor learning through mathematical analysis is that motor learning behaves exponentially when described as a function of practice time. It is assumed that motor learning will continuously taper off (minimizing errors) with increased practice and eventually approach as asympote. Although many…