Communicative competence in a given language is not guaranteed by competency in the understanding and use of linguistic structures. As part of the testing corpus of an individual's communicative competence in a second language, an oral proficiency interview may provide some insight into the individual's communicative ability in a variety of…

The study investigated articulatory production in 50 Spanish speaking preschool children through administration of the Prueba de Articulacion de Consonantes y Semivocales, a measure of 21 stimulus words with accompanying drawings and which tests 18 consonants and two semivowels in either the initial, medial, or final position. Errors produced by…

To replace traditional methods of minimum competency testing in personnel selection, a two stage cutting score procedure is proposed. The Angoff procedure is modified so that only a subset of test items, which assess essential job related skills, are used to determine the cutting score and to identify qualifed applicants. As a measure of item…

Since 1975, the Chicago public schools have been conducting ongoing research and development related to the identification and remediation of prekindergarten children with potential learning problems. The present study describes initial efforts toward the creation of a longitudinal data base aimed at determining (1) prekindergarten-age…

The paper reviews and critiques the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children (ABIC) from the perspective of its utility in the assessment of adaptive behavior for special education eligibility. It is explained that the ABIC, a parent interview consisting of questions about a child's home and community activities, has recently been normed and used…

The development of a contextual classroom observation system is described. The system consists of an instrument, trained observers, data handling, and analysis. Thus, instrument development was necessarily paralleled by the development of training procedures, data recording and processing systems, programming, and analytic techniques. The…

Eighty undergraduates were administered four self-report locus of control inventories, in order to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of four categories common to these inventories: chance, fate, personal control, and powerful others. The four inventories were: (1) Internal, Powerful Others and Chance scales; (2) James Internal…

To compile a list of activities and achievements considered as creative by laymen, 239 graduate and undergraduate students named their three most creative accomplishments and activities in each of six areas: mathematics and science; music; fine arts; performing arts; literature; and miscellaneous. This resulted in a 198-item list, which was rated…

The Parenting Stress Index (PSI) is a clinical and research self-report instrument designed to identify mother-child systems which are under stress and to indicate the sources of stress. It is based on the research literature in child development, parent functioning, and stress. The normative sample for the PSI consisted of 470 mothers with at…

Two different formats for multiple-choice test items were compared in an experimental test given in a college class in introductory psychology. In one format, a question or incomplete statement was followed by four answers or completions, only one of which was correct. In the other format, the double multiple-choice version, the same questions…

The purposes of this paper are to explore and present various opinions concerning the nature of functional literacy and the questions involved in assessing the extent to which one is or is not functionally literate, and to describe one instrument designed to measure functional literacy. The major sections of the paper provide information on the…

Because a critical issue in current assessment efforts is the widespread use of technically inadequate tests, the study examined tests chosen by 159 school professionals during a computer simulation of placement decision making about potentially handicapped students. Chi square analysis showed technically adequate devices were chosen…

Six monographs on the Rasch model are summarized. The first gives a historical perspective on the application of the Rasch model in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The remaining papers summarize research on the Rasch model. The research in Monograph II lead to the conclusion that random samples are not needed to calibrate item levels in…

The impact of an occupational card sort, the Occu-Sort (O-S), on the thoughts and activities of rural, suburban, and urban junior/senior high school students was assessed to determine the sex bias/fairness of that card sort as a career interest inventory, as well as the reliability and validity of the occupational code structure. Participants were…

Five language assessment tests (LATs) are used for identifying children of limited English speaking ability in Texas: Basic Inventory of Natural Language; Bilingual Syntax Measure; Language Assessment Scales; Primary Acquisition of Language; and Schutt Primary Language Indicator Test. Interrelationships between LATs and relationships between the…