A study of possible test bias in the Arabic and Hebrew versions of a standardized scholastic aptitude test used in Israel found a slight overprediction of performance for Arabs, but the findings appear to be more consistent with psychometric than cultural bias. (Author/MSE)

Articles in this series on testing and evaluation specifically address the use of tests to assess and improve educational status; achievement test selection; and trend toward increased use of coaching materials to improve test performance. Professional literature on educational measurement is reviewed. (MBR)

Examines The GAR, which is intended as a group assessment of reading ability for elementary and secondary school students in the areas of reading level, comprehension, study skills, and reading interests. Concludes that the test has many shortcomings. (FL)

School psychologists have experienced difficulties in assessing students' behavior disorders, because of lack of training and problems associated with the traditional medical model of abnormal behavior. An alternative assessment model is described in terms of its five principles: problem solving; functional analysis; multiple operationalism;…

A test of a reputable scholarship search service using a fictitious student and characteristics revealed that the aid source information obtained was only fair in relevance and response rate to follow-up inquiry. Students are advised to concentrate on more productive sources of information: colleges, personal contacts, and publications. (MSE)

The No Child Left Behind Act requires standards-based accountability for school districts and schools receiving Title I funds. A major component of this policy is to report whether districts and schools are making "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) based on their performance goals. This paper raises questions for rural schools using the…

In response to the numerous school reform initiatives being implemented, Sternberg proposed a theory of contextual modifiability stating that successful change in a school requires that the school be modifiable. Sternberg developed the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a 116-item Likert scale questionnaire, to assess schools'…

The construct of dispositions is well defined in national standards, and U.S. colleges of education are required to assess candidate dispositions to meet accreditation requirements. Measurement, however, is virtually non-existent. On-line reviews of college accreditation reports indicate that colleges are attempting to assess dispositions without…

In this article, we review some of the ways socioeconomic status has been measured on assessments and the issues associated with measuring SES of students, issues which are not limited to statistical concerns. We also present possible proxy measures that could be used as a means of potentially overcoming some of the problems with current measures…

The need for effective ways of monitoring the quality of scoring of portfolios resulted in the development of a software package that provides scoring leaders with updated information on their assessors' scoring quality. Assessors with computers enter data as they score, and this information is analyzed and reported to scoring leaders. The…

The purpose of this study was to develop a psychometrically sound instrument to measure teachers' attitudes toward students with special needs, the Scale of Teacher's Attitudes Toward Inclusion (STATIC). Approximately 1,440 inservice teachers were asked to complete the STATIC. There were 516 respondents from 5 school districts in Alabama. Various…

How self-esteem is related to social environment and the elastic-plastic processing of mindies was studied in students aged 13 to 16 years. A "mindy" is a unit process of the mind constructed through using a mental shape. Subjects were 12 students aged 13, 31 students aged 14, 31 aged 15, and 6 aged 16 at a secondary comprehensive school…

In 1995, nearly three-quarters of a million high school dropouts took the General Educational Development (GED) tests. The half million individuals who passed the test accounted for approximately one-sixth of all high school diplomas issued that year. On average, GED recipients perform as well as graduating high school seniors on the five tests…

This paper discusses the efforts of the Department of Mathematics at the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) to determine the degree to which their courses support the published academic outcomes of the institution, and presents the results of a survey of student attitudes toward the academic outcomes. A survey questionnaire was developed…

This document, which draws on the findings of a survey of further education (FE) colleges in the United Kingdom and case studies of 9 FE colleges, presents good practices for managers of tutoring programs and tutors. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the changing role of tutors in the post-16 sector and the importance of recruiting, training, and…