Predictive validity of a school readiness test (Preschool Screening System (PSS)) was investigated through a teacher rating scale (Rhode Island Pupil Identification Scale) to six groups of kindergarten children of both sexes (N=245). The most powerful predictor in every group was the "Information Processing" score of the PSS. (Author)

The educational value of standardized tests and their fairness to racial and ethnic groups continue to be intensely debated issues that affect public policies. This article summarizes many of the prominent points of view and suggests a series of six policy alternatives as possible solutions to the controversies. (Editor/LBH)

The data reported by Avery and his colleagues do not support their challenge to the construct validity of empathic understanding ratings. It is argued here that empathic understanding ratings should demonstrate "correspondence" and independence. (Author)

A computer-administered (CA) form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) (A. Tellegen, 1982) was created, and scores of 126 college students were compared to those of 101 who took a paper-and-pencil MPQ. Multivariate analyses found no group differences for the CA format, and likelihood of profile validity was decreased. Results…

The concurrent validity of Spanish versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 and the Personality Assessment Inventory (L. Morey, 1991) was studied with 105 Hispanic patients using a revised Spanish version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (L. Robins and others, 1981) as the criterion measure. Results suggest that both…

Discusses applications of the Problem Solving Inventory for counseling and managed health care, career and industrial/organizational issues, training, and academic performance. Examines the role of problem solving in psychological health and describes the inventory, how to administer it, and previous research findings. (RJM)

This article examines psychometric analysis regarding the viability and limits of IQ testing in the context of "The Bell Curve." It discusses eyeball analysis versus item analysis, mean differences, validity coefficients, general intelligence, and IQ and gifted education, and urges a search for intrapersonal and environmental catalysts…

Examined construct validity of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance and its appropriateness for urban children. Data collected from a sample of 476 African American children of low-income families in a large metropolitan Head Start program failed to produce psychologically meaningful constructs or support for…

Assessed college students on measures of depression, concentration, and academic performance. Depression was negatively related to academic performance, although the relationship between depression and cognitive functioning was not detected on a brief measure of concentration. Suggests that isolated testing sessions may mask the detrimental…

The SCAN: A Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders was administered to 14 elementary children with a history of otitis media and 14 typical children, to evaluate the validity of the test in identifying children with central auditory processing disorder. Another experiment found that test results differed based on the testing environment…

A study of 20 preschool children with specific language impairments and 20 typical preschool children examined the extent to which norm-referenced tests can identify a language impairment and determine specific areas of deficit. Results indicate the norm-referenced tests gave high discriminate capacity but inconsistent item-level performance.…

A study examined the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for Children--Revised (SASC-R) in a sample of 159 predominantly Dominican and Puerto Rican fifth- and sixth-grade students from New York City. Findings provided initial support for SASC-R reliability and validity in Hispanic children. Convergent validity was supported by…

Gives an account of Gail Reynolds's experience in administrating the DART (Developmental assessment resource for teachers) and AIM (Achievement improvement monitor) tests at her school. Reflects on how the test results compared with her own judgments of the literacy abilities of individual students in her class. Offers four case studies that draw…

This article describes development of the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies (PMLP), a measure of both English and American Sign Language skills in deaf children. The PMLP showed reasonable initial reliability and appears to be an easy-to-use measure. Discussion addresses issues that influence the reliability and validity in evaluating…