The nature and purpose of criterion-referenced testing is discussed in light of test design procedures. It is seen that the uses to which test results are put are the chief determiners of the appropriate measurement model. A distinction is made between cut-off scores, criterion scores, and mastery scores. The value of certain test construction…

Graduate and professional schools usually base their admissions decisions on a combination of test scores and on an overall index of undergraduate achievement such as cumulative grade-point average or rank-in-class. The present study sought to investigate whether considering more specific indices of undergraduate performance, through a detailed…

The adequacy of using a combination of criterion-scaled non-school variables to predict achievement score means of schools is discussed. Non-school data gathered on eighth-grade students were criterion-scaled, using the total score of the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Eight non-school category scores and actual achievement scores of selected…

The purpose of the study was to develop a linear programming model to be used for prediction, test the accuracy of the predictions, and compare the accuracy with that produced by curvilinear multiple regression analysis. (Author)

Beginning in Fall, 1975, applicants to Liberal Arts, Technology, and Forestry at the University of Minnesota could submit scores on either the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) or the American College Testing Program's aptitude battery (ACT) to satisfy entrance testing requirements. This study determined that new course placement…

An instrument for identifying disturbed and normal third to fifth grade children was evaluated. The instrument employs verb choices in a forced-choice sentence-completion format. A cross-validation procedure established high percentages of correct classifications. (Author/JKS)

Discusses student evaluations of teacher performance in college level courses. Major problems with student evaluations are that they stress personality and speaking characteristics of the teacher, can be influenced by past negative teacher ratings, and lack relationship to content coverage and test performance. (Author/DB)

The concurrent criterion validity of a modified pass/fail grading system in a medical school was assessed. The investigators examined possible differences between honor society and nonhonor society students on three medical school entry variables and on medical board scores. (Author/JKS)

Eight teaching treatments which varied structuring, soliciting and reacting behaviors were utilized in ecology lessons for 399 sixth-grade students. Analysis of multiple choice, attitude and perception of teaching variables showed aptitudes to be major predictors of teacher, treatment and aptitude-treatment interaction effects. Changes are…

Instructors answered questions indicating personal warmth, professorial rank, years of teaching experience, sex, and class size. Students completed the Instructional Improvement Questionnaire. The classes which received high ratings were small in size, were taught by instructors who rated themselves as warm, and had students who expected high…

Admissions interview data and college academic credentials of five classes of University of Missouri-Columbia medical students were evaluated. Students judged by admissions interviewers to have high levels of maturity, nonacademic achievement, motivation, or rapport were two to three times as likely to receive outstanding internship…

The interaction of mental ability and of two different instructional methods was investigated for a second grade linear metric curriculum unit. Mental ability was positively correlated with achievement under the guided discovery method, but essentially uncorrelated for the self paced mastery learning method. (Author/JKS)

This longitudinal study compared two predictors of reading performance: behavior rating scales and psychometric tests. Two groups of 888 and 844 middle-class kindergarten children were studied through Grade 3. Classroom and school environment were also considered. (Author/GDC)

Recommends measures and criteria to be used by four-year colleges in admitting and advising different types of transfers from two-year colleges. Emphasizes the need for extensive information exchange between two- and four-year colleges so that assessment measures and criteria will be valid. (DC)

An analysis of the effects of three kinds of teacher comment (social-comparison, subject-matter,and intraindividually oriented) accompanying grades in mathematics is presented. Subjects were 385 students from grades 6 through 10. In analyses of variance, an interaction between type of comment and the student's prior performance level was revealed…