Discussions of any test must focus on reliability, content validity, and interpretation of results. In this critique of On Further Examination--the report of the Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Score Decline--the National Education Association (NEA) finds no fault with the reliability of the SAT. Its content validity, however,…

The content and utility of two models of reading comprehension tests, the basic skills assessment model and the multiple choice cloze (MCC) model, are discussed. The basic reading competency model assesses the ability to read or infer "basic" meanings from a range of written or symbolic communication, as is necessary for daily living in…

Materials contained in this career guidance unit are designed to develop student understanding of the Ohio Vocational Interest Survey (OVIS) given by the Mesa Public Schools (Arizona) to all ninth grade students. In addition to the test, student participation includes vocabulary study, survey charts, and optional English activities. The unit…

These guidelines provide information about a program implementing State of Illinois legislation whereby school boards are empowered to grant one unit of foreign language credit to students exhibiting proficiency in a language other than English. The guide describes the types of students who are eligible for the program and the procedures for…

Content validity involves a judgment that all knowledges, skills, abilities, and other worker characteristics (KSAOs) needed for successful job performance (or a specified portion, the job content domain), have been adequately sampled by the tests used for employee selection and promotion decision making. The model outlines the procedure for…

This pamphlet reprints three papers and an invited discussion of them, read at a Division 5 Symposium at the 1975 American Psychological Association Convention. The first paper describes a Bayesian tailored testing process and shows how it demonstrates the importance of using test items with high discrimination, low guessing probability, and a…

This yearbook analyzes present concerns and controversies in the teaching of English and summarizes what has been learned during the three decades of curriculum reform, since the last yearbook that dealt with the teaching of English. Separately authored chapters discuss language and the nature of learning, developing power and expressiveness in…

The volume presents an overview of the secondary Resource Specialist Program for mildly and moderately handicapped students in California and reviews the most promising aspects of the program, directions in which the program appears to be headed, and some ideas on facilitating program growth and change. Included are five chapters with the…

This study attempts to determine the extent to which performance on educational tests is dependent upon language proficiency. Three questions are involved: (1) Will the dictation and the cloze tests prove to be as successful in distinguishing degrees of proficiency among native speakers as among second language learners? (2) How well will scores…

The experiment reported measured the degree to which cloze tests deliberately biased on the basis of contrastive analysis would actually be harder for Vietnamese than for speakers of other languages. The experiment tested the approach to ESL (English as a second language) for Vietnamese described in a guide for teachers of Vietnamese refugees…

Numerous instruments used by school districts to assess language dominance are not designed to determine either language dominance or proficiency. Nor do they yield sufficient data for appropriate program placement. One example of such an instrument is the Del Rio Language Screening Test (DRLST), designed to screen children of three to seven years…

The results of standardized norm-referenced achievement tests via the state mandated California Assessment Program (CAP) and the Districtwide Testing Program for the 1979-80 school year are summarized. California Assessment Program tests were administered statewide to all third, sixth and twelfth grade students. The nationally standardized…

Resulting from a project involving district, state, and federal educational agencies, the papers in this, the first of two volumes, are intended to provide information from research and practice that can help school districts in their efforts to make decisions about goals and methods of basic skills instruction. The topics of the papers in the…

This report documents the measurement of learning outcomes and the formative/summative evaluation of courses as derived from the activities and experiences of educators in many fields of endeavor to determine how best to design courses of instruction and how to measure the learning outcomes resulting from courses. The report is divided into four…

This study investigates whether Mexican Americans have a different cerebral specialization for native language than for second language as measured by visual shift. The possibility of a different cerebral arrangement for each language has implications for educators. The relation between cerebral arrangement and cognitive style entails…