The development of the communicative competence test for college business majors described in this paper consisted of three phases. The first phase identified as desirable the following communication behaviors: planning, logic, perception, communication without fear or anxiety, listening, oral communication, conference leadership, and nonverbal…

In order to determine if multiple choice spelling tests are as effective as handwritten tests, 265 college freshmen were tested on the same spelling words by traditional oral dictation and then by five-option multiple choice questions. Results were compared to examine the efficacy of multiple choice testing. Of a possible 20 points, the mean score…

The way in which diagnostic reading test scores were used in planning a remedial program is examined in this report. Among the topics discussed are the administration of a diagnostic test in 13 Irish schools; the organization of a remedial program for students identified as having severe reading problems; weaknesses of diagnostic tests currently…

Most methods of personality scale construction have clear statistical disadvantages. A hybrid method (Darlington and Bishop, 1966) was found to increase scale validity more than any other method, with large item pools. A simple modification of the Darlington-Bishop method (algebraically and conceptually similar to ridge regression, but…

This study sought to develop an instrument for measuring teacher knowledge of reading at the secondary school level. Multiple-chioce items were generated from a content outline derived from a review of the literature and were submitted to a panel of experts who categorized the items, answered them, and rated each one's importance. After revisions…

In the spring of 1975, the High/Scope Productive Language Assessment Tasks (PLAT) were administered to virtually all second-grade and third-grade children at five centers, who had been enrolled in the Follow Through program since entering school; the PLAT was also administered to groups of non-Follow-Through children at four of five sites.…

In a pilot study of children's drawings of "a house with a tree behind it," Piagetian sequence (scribbling, fortuitous realism, failed realism, intellectual realism, and visual realism) was tentatively supported. Children's strategies in decentering from intellectual to visual realism were noted. The study reported in this paper was…

This study, using the Self-Observation Scales (SOS) primary and intermediate levels, was conducted to determine whether the self-concept items that were most predictive of reading achievement varied among sex-race-grade subsamples and to examine specific item content in order to focus upon the nature of the relationship between reading achievement…

The problem of this study was to find criteria, and a model, for judging written expression at the elementary level which can produce concordance of teacher judgments and be a possible basis for prescriptive teaching. Such a model was developed by the Affton School District. This study attempts to determine its utility. Twenty-four essays were…

The purpose of this study was the development and validation of a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess the formal stage of development as defined by Piaget. Initially, a 42-item test was constructed; item content included syllogisms, verbal analogies, combinatorial and probabilistic reasoning, and questions similar to Piagetian tasks. This…

This report is the second part of a study designed to construct a test for measuring musical aptitude of persons from various age groups. It covers the construction of the test, material, item analysis, reliability, validity, and possible future steps. The test is composed of musical recordings, determined from pilot studies, that the test groups…

This report documents the theory, structure, and implementation of a performance processor (written in FORTRAN IV) that can accept performance demonstration data representing various levels of operator's skill and, under user control, analyze data to provide candidate performance measures and validation test results. The processor accepts two…

Examined are several tests designed to measure language development in retarded children and possible options for research. Past attempts (such as Berko's Test of Morphology) to evaluate retarded children's linguistic development are criticized for inadequate language definitions and invalid testing methods. Suggestions for data-gathering options…

The primary use of the Tests of General Educational Development (GED) is to appraise the educational development of adults who have not completed their formal high school education. The significance of these tests for higher education lies in their extensive use in admission of non-high-school-graduate adults to college. This study has three major…

This report describes the rationale, development, technical characteristics, and use of the ACT Interest Inventory, which provides both descriptive information about an individual's interests and information to facilitate focused exploration of educational and career alternatives. The report begins with consideration of the question, "What…