These two related papers provide information on teacher attitudes toward black dialect use in the classroom and the measurement of such attitudes. The first paper reports on data from 176 administrators, counselors, teachers, and student teachers, revealing significant relationships between a teacher's definition of black dialect, attitudes toward…

The secondary level English proficiency (SLEP) test is a group administered 150 item multiple-test of English language proficiency that includes two subscores and eight different item types. It is designed to assess a foreign student's readiness for English medium instruction at the secondary level. This paper reports on two studies which were…

This paper describes an attempt to follow up the performance of foreign graduate students in the College of Engineering, University of Michigan, and discusses whether the scores they obtained on the Michigan Battery, with special reference to the composition test, predicted success or lack of success in their first term subjects. No significant…

A longitudinal study was conducted to assess (1) the validity of the Denver Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (DPDQ) in a predominantly black, lower socioeconomic population, and (2) the effect of an educational package in increasing parental accuracy in responses to the DPDQ. Randomly selected mothers of 127 infants enrolled in a follow-up…

The purpose of this study was to design a valid, reliable instrument that identifies and measures teachers' attitudes toward inservice programs. The study also sought to locate attitude differences between school sites. An attitude scale was developed in five stages: (1) identifying the nature of the possible attitude factors from current…

The Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ) is a multidimensional instrument designed to measure seven facets of self-concept hypothesized in Shavelson's hierarchical model. Fifth and sixth grade students completed the SDQ and several other instruments. Factor analysis of their responses clearly demonstrated the seven factors that the SDQ was…

A study was conducted to explore the reliability and validity of three prominent procedures used in informal reading inventories (IRIs): (1) choosing a 95% word recognition accuracy standard for determining student instructional level, (2) arbitrarily selecting a passage to represent the difficulty level of a basal reader, and (3) employing…

A study was undertaken to determine if a criterion referenced test based on a Piagetian stage model of reading acquisition was related to grade level, to a standardized reading achievement test, and to a test of cognitive developmental level. Sixty first, second, and third grade children were administered a comprehensive test of basic skills. They…

A study was undertaken to identify the factor structure of a battery of readiness measures and to demonstrate the concurrent and predictive validity of one instrument in that battery--the Pre-Reading Screening Procedures (PSP). Concurrent validity was determined by examining the correlation of the PSP with the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT),…

During the academic year 1978-79, school teams implemented a newly developed early identification system in all kindergarten and grade one classes in London, Ontario schools. After analysis and revision of the system, the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the process and a test of its short-term predictive validity were investigated.…

A study examined the perspective of an allied health faculty toward academic credit for experiential learning through equivalency testing and third-party validation. A four-item questionnaire, completed by 134 of the 268-member full-time faculty of the Hahnemann College of Allied Health Professions in Philadelphia, indicated that the faculty is…

The relationship between egocentrism and five components of social competence (decentering ability, social participation, helping behavior, conflict resolution, and egocentric speech) in young children was examined in this study. Measures of egocentrism, intelligence and social competence were obtained for each of 100 three-year-old children…

Because conventional test instruments designed to predict academic performance of the young tend to be inaccurate measures of competence in the elderly, new assessment instruments are being constructed which are more appropriate for current cohorts of the elderly. A comparison of performance on conventional measures to performance on newly…