The problem of establishing appropriate passing scores is one of evaluation rather than estimation and not amenable to exact solution. It must therefore be approached by (1) identifying criteria for judging the acceptability of the passing score, (2) collecting the data appropriate to assessing each relevant criterion, and (3) judging how well the…

The project described was conducted to study how young children proceed to the acquisition of mastery in making films, how teaching technique is related to these forms of mastery, and what perceptual, cognitive, and affective changes occur in children as a result of these experiences. The development of a methodology for the study and problems…

Challenges to classical psychometric theory are examined in the context of a broader range of fundamental, derived, and intuitive measurements in psychology; the challenges include content-referenced testing, latent trait theory, and generalizability theory. A taxonomy of psychological measurement is developed, based on: (1) purposes of…

The term, standardized achievement test, has evolved to imply a broad package of materials which includes a wide array of norms, lists of scoring services and educational objectives tested, and aids to interpretation. Test authors are convinced that that individual differences in achievement do exist; that recognition of these differences will…

The first and second years, 1974-76, of a research project on the effects of filmmaking upon children who make the films are reported here. The aims of the research were to establish: (1) the processes through which the children proceeded in the acquisition of filmmaking mastery, (2) the relationship of instructional technique to these forms of…

The author, as a testing consultant, has considered and answered 16 questions on the various aspects of testing usually asked by school staff members. The questions and answers are primarily concerned with statistical aspects of achievement tests and the best way to interpret test results to clients, parents and teachers. The need for caution in…

Two forms of the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ), the multiple rank order form and the paired comparison form, were compared in terms of psychometric characteristics and user reactions. The MIQ forms were randomly administered to 290 subjects on two different occasions resulting in a complete crossing of order-by-form. The results of…

Air Force training depends to a considerable extent on the transmission of information through textual materials. This study was performed to define and clarify methods for increasing the capability of written materials to transfer information to the reader. Variables drawn from current psycholinguistic and intellective function literature were…

This report analyzes the nonverbal performance of 100 children (3 1/2-4 1/2 year old) on tasks of discontinuous quantity. The children are part of a larger group of subjects participating in a longitudinal study of educational and social programs for disadvantaged children currently being conducted by the Educational Testing Service. The purposes…

Relationships between school achievement and two theoretically different measures of intelligence, Piagetian and psychometric, are explored in 143 bright, average, and retarded elementary school students. Factor analyses of the California Test of Mental Maturity, the Metropolitan Achievement Test, the Stanford-Binet, and fifteen Piaget-type tasks…

Two hundred children (100 girls and 100 boys), kindergarten through fourth grade, were tested with the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) and a newer instrument, the Multi-Choice Conceptual Tempo Apparatus (MCCTA). The MCCTA was more reliable and had stronger negative correlations between errors and latency than did the MFF. The MCCTA did not…

The papers in this collection present a description of, and the results of, research in Work Unit REALISTIC. In addition to the first paper which is an overview, the three papers are: "Psychometric Determination of Relationships Among Literacy Skills and Job Proficiency,""Reading Ability, Readability, and Readership: Identifying…

The purposes of the present investigation was to factor analyze the results of the administration of the Purdue Elementary Problem Solving Inventory to 361 second-graders. The Inventory was designed to assess twelve distinct skills involved in human problem solving. Tetrachoric intercorrelations were generated from the item scores and a principal…

Teaching performance tests are measures which assess a teacher's ability to accomplish prespecified instructional objectives. Although possessing much face validity, little psychometric information is available about such assessment devices. Three separate studies were conducted to provide information about the validity, reliability,…

Three techniques for assessing the adequacy of correlation matrices for factor analysis were applied to four examples from the literature. The methods compared were: (1) inspection of the off diagonal elements of the anti-image covariance matrix S(to the 2nd) R(to the -1) and S(to the 2nd); (2) the Measure of Sampling Adequacy (M.S.A.), and (3)…