An assessment was made of the development of logical thinking of four samples of Australian children. Marked differences were found between the European and aboriginal groups of the samples chosen. Environmental differences were considered to have been a major influence in the performance differences. (DM)

The author asserts that coverage of educational measurement issues in the popular press and in nontechnical education journals rarely reflects the concerns of measurement specialists. He presents the measurement issues surrounding minimum-competency testing and suggests that specialists work to make these known to the public. (SJL)

Describes the controversy following the pioneering bill in New York that is to allow standardized admissions tests to be scrutinized by the public. The position of the Educational Testing Service in the issue is presented. (SA)

It appears that contingent reinforcement may have an effect upon the intelligence test performance of black adults as evidenced by the consistent trend of the IQ scores in the direction of the proposed hypothesis. However, the primary analysis of the data revealed no statistically significant differences among treatment groups. (Author)

There is no agreement at present about the importance or meaning of the term "consequential validity." It is important that the authors of revisions to the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" recognize the debate and relegate discussion of consequences to a context separate from the discussion of validity.…

Proposes a class of locally dependent latent trait models for responses to psychological and educational tests. Focuses on models based on a family of conditional distributions, or kernel, that describes joint multiple item responses as a function of student latent trait, not assuming conditional independence. Also proposes an EM algorithm for…

Discusses the factors affecting the decision to use computerized adaptive testing in a nursing certification examination. (SLD)

The history of generalizability theory (G theory) is told from the perspective of one researcher's experiences, describing psychometric and scientific perspectives that influenced the development of G theory and its adoption. Work that remains to be done in the field is outlined. (SLD)

The relationship between the validity theory of the past 50 years and actual validity practices was studied by comparing published test standards with the practices of measurement professionals expressed in the "Mental Measurements Yearbook" test reviews. Results show a symbiotic relationship between theory and practice on the influence…

This volume is designed to supplement contemporary textbooks on measurement and testing by explicating some often neglected topics, with particular emphasis on item response theory (IRT). Six chapters focus on the measurement of cognitive abilities, four focus on personality measurement, and a closing chapter contains an overview of IRT. The book…

Proposes additional ways for people in the measurement profession to think about the fairness of assessments and about the fairness of the uses of assessments. Suggests that measurement professionals must pay more attention to reducing group differences at the design stage of test development, to providing all examinees an opportunity to…

The 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing eliminated concepts of content, criterion-related, and construct validity, instead focusing on evidence based on test content, response processes, internal structure, relations to other variables, and consequences of testing. Questions remain about amount of evidence needed,…

Discusses the intellectual history supporting the use of educational testing and describes four current tensions in testing: (1) learning and change versus measurement models; (2) quality of information and policy use; (3) precision versus utility; and (4) individual attainment versus standardized attainment. (SLD)