Fourth-grade good and poor readers were given six different digit span tasks in which task structure (simultaneous vs sequential presentation of digits) and modality of presentation (visual vs auditory) were varied. Task structure was more powerful in predicting test performance than was modality of presentation. (Author/BH)

This study investigated the internal structure of the Ohio Work Values Inventory (OWVI) when used with college-age students. A factor analysis with oblique rotation was performed. Results indicate that the inventory may be used with technical college students. (Author)

Factor analysis of Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale using a national sample replicated the distinction between personal control and control ideology. Personal control, but not control ideology, was related to higher socioeconomic status and mastery efforts over personal environment. External control ideology was related to greater…

Reports on the development and testing of a measure of interpersonal communication satisfaction. The 19-item, unidimensional inventory is shown to exhibit a high degree of reliability and validity when used to measure communication satisfaction with actual and recalled conversations with another perceived to be a friend, acquaintance, or stranger.…

Intelligence testing has a place in assessment and placement procedures. (PHR)

Four alternative cognitive assumptions concerning the fundamental meaning of events are presented: formism, or everyday thinking; mechanism, or experimental scientist's thinking; organicism, or systems thinking; and contextualism, or relational thinking. The measurement of individual preferences for these hypotheses and behavioral correlates of…

Two approaches to the validation of occupational interest inventories are considered. The approaches vary according to whether one is interested in predicting students' occupational preferences as opposed to assisting counselors in advisement. One empirical example using female college students is presented. (Author/JKS)

The usefulness of short-term behavioral criteria as a technique for validating vocational needs and interests inventories is investigated. An empirical example demonstrates the usefulness of the technique. (Author/JKS)

This study reports the progress in developing and validating an instrument that can be used to measure critical aspects of a parent's attitudes and behavior that influence child development. This instrument should aid in reaching the goal of treating participants in parent education programs as individuals. (Editor/KC)

Describes the development of a standardized achievement test for high school horticulture students and analyzes resulting data from 37 high schools. Although the sample may not have been truly random, the test is felt to be sufficiently reliable and valid for use as a research and evaluation tool. (MF)

The Omaha school district submitted an application to the Nebraska State Department of Education to develop a teacher selection model which would predict which candidates would be successful when rated by their students and administrators. From their request Project EMPATHY (Emphasizing More Personalized Attitudes Toward Helping Youth) developed.…

The Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Auditory Impulsivity Task were administered to 81 fourth-grade students. Fifty-five percent of the students maintained classifications as reflective, impulsive, fast-accurate, or slow-inaccurate across the two modalities, indicating that the two tasks measured different abilities. The authors suggest that…

The decline in scholastic aptitude test ( SAT) scores does not signify that the quality of education is lower. To interpret this decline requires an understanding of the testing process, changing racial and sex mix of the test makers, changing lifestyle of youth, and the increase in the number of students taking the SAT. (Author/AM)

The study involved a comparison of the ability of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test and the Concrete Objects Test to measure receptive and expressive language skills in 30 trainable mentally retarded children. ( Author/ PHR)

Reports on the development and validation of a new junior high school version of the Test On Understanding Science (TOUS).