To assess the relationship between specific neonatal variables and subsequent mental development, a longitudinal study of 41 children from a high-risk neonatal nursery was conducted. For each child, 58 measures of neonatal condition (e.g., head size, various laboratory values, delivery mode) were available, as were developmental assessments up to…

Outdoor leaders have an opportunity to promote and facilitate a bond with the out- of-doors, yet little research has been conducted to describe the evolving relationships between outdoor leaders and the natural environments with which they come into contact. The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of outdoor leaders toward the…

A serial-reaction task was used to study personality, as well as physiological, correlates of individual differences in performance decrement under low task-load conditions. (Editor)

Evidence on the predictive validity of the Vane Kindergarten Test (VKT) as a part of the comprehensive screening and assessment battery administered by the Horseheads Central School District in New York is presented. Variable numbers of students at each of six elementary schools were administered the VKT. At the end of the kindergarten year, all…

Spady's hypothesis that the extent of participation in high school extracurricular activities has a salutary effect on educational attainment statistically controlling on background socioeconomic statuses, academic ability and performance, is tested on 340 17-year-old males surveyed in 1957 and again in 1972. (Author/NQ)

The study compared the arrays of high-interest occupations produced by the Strong and the Kuder. A frequency percentage count showed 85 percent of the pairs of summary codes had two identical characteristics, and some support was found for Holland's hexagon. The implications for further studies comparing the two instruments are discussed. (Author)

For the six available sets of empirical data, the discrimination (slope) parameter of the logistic item characteristic curve was found to have a significant positive correlation over items with the difficulty (location) parameter. This unpleasant situation can be eliminated by a suitably chosen transformation of the ability scale. (Author/RC)

Research supported in part by Public Health Research Grant MH-1733-09 from the National Institute of Mental Health and by the National Science Foundation through an undergraduate fellowship.

The specificity doctrine, holds that psychometric tests measure nothing other than the specific bits of knowledge and learned skills reflected in the item content of the tests. This prevailing doctrine has influenced the interpretation of test scores and the conceptualization of test validity, as well as the practical use of tests in educational…

A comparison is made between Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I normal curve equivalent (NCE) gains derived from the norm-referenced test (NRT) Model A1 and Title I NCE gains derived from the criterion-referenced test (CRT) Model A2. In addition, four equating methods (normalized, curvilinear, linear, and abbreviated equipercentile) for…