Addressed to all concerned with reading assessment, including teachers, administrators, testmakers, and policymakers, this book describes some of the major problems involved in reading assessment and provides guidelines for the improved use of reading tests. The first chapter, on reading measurement in perspective, discusses the historical context…

Three different item-bank maintenance procedures were compared for the purpose of investigating their cumulative effects on a series of longitudinal equatings of tests measuring the same characteristic. Item data used resulted from Rasch one-parameter latent trait test calibrations. Comparison of the results in the various final banks were made.…

This study summarizes scholastic performance of Los Angeles City College (LACC) fall 1977 entering students according to last school attended prior to registering at LACC. Data were derived from a district computer center printout, "Grade Listing of Freshmen Fall 1977", which listed all students' names, units attempted and completed, grade points…

A battery of reading tests designed to identify the component skills involved in reading comprehension was administered to 624 sixth grade students in the metropolitan Sydney (Australia) schools. Factor analysis of the data showed that knowledge of word meanings, sentence comprehension, and semantic context are experimentally identifiable…

This paper discusses some specific issues about testing and relates the discussion to reading teachers and reading instruction. The issues that are discussed include the goals, criteria, and methods of classroom assessment. The paper concludes that teachers need to learn more about the process of assessment in order to use tests effectively, and…

The "nuts and bolts" of test construction concern the following areas: (1) common problems in test construction, (2) successful test formats, (3) specific testing concerns in the French individualized program (IFP) at the Ohio State University, and (4) references to help the test constructor. The specific problems considered deal with whether or…

Project ALMS (Adult Literacy Mission Support) was designed to improve the communication skills of semi-literate or illiterate adults, help participants become more self-sufficient, provide an ongoing program for other such individuals, and provide a manual of guidelines and suggestions for other programs. Three groups were established to make a…

Test results of 1,902 Los Angeles City College students taking the Guidance Examination's Survey of Reading Achievement (SRA) in Fall 1979 were analyzed and compared, where applicable, with SRA scores for 1976, 1977, and 1978. Variables analyzed were raw score, grade level equivalent, English course recommendation, sex, and last high school and…

This paper discusses an investigation that compared college students' reading gains when using general or specific diagnosis. It reports that significant gains were made on many subskills of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test by the group that had the prescriptions developed as a result of a differential (specific) diagnosis and that there were…

Based on the view that text-specific concept and vocabulary knowledge affect the processing and recall of text and that a measure of this knowledge might assist teachers in determining whether a reader possesses adequate background to successfully comprehend and recall a particular text, a study was conducted. Its purpose was to develop a measure…

Five essays for reading instructors at two-year colleges are provided in this issue of "Forum for Reading." First, Kent Smith notes the increased recruitment of underprepared students and argues that colleges are responsible for assuring that admissions personnel, administrators, and faculty know the types of students they can and cannot…

Teachers in the Chula Vista Rosebank Title IV Project, Individual Diagnosis and Prescription for a Total School, use these test manuals and corresponding teaching guides to measure and improve reading and mathematics skills of students, kindergarten through junior high school. Parts I and III contain tests and directions for administering the…

A study was conducted to measure the effect and compare the results of developmental reading instruction for college students as prescribed from the specific results of a diagnostic reading test and a general, more traditionally used, survey reading test. The sample consisted of 226 students enrolled in different sections of a reading course…

A REVIEW OF 124 ARTICLES PERTAINING TO COLLEGE AND ADULT READING WHICH APPEARED IN THE PERIODICAL LITERATURE IS PRESENTED. THE ARTICLES ARE TREATED WITHIN THE FOLLOWING AREAS--(1) PROGRAMS, INCLUDING READING AND STUDY HABITS, TRAITS, AND SKILLS, (2) THE INFLUENCE OF READING, STUDY HABITS, AND SKILLS, (3) THE FACTORS INFLUENCING READING AND OTHER…