Many significant changes in perspective have to take place before efforts to learn the content and capabilities of children's minds can hold much sway in educational testing. The language of testing, especially of high stakes testing, remains firmly in the realm of "behaviors", "performance" and "competency" defined…

The effects of a group therapy program for teenage girls reporting child sexual abuse were evaluated by means of a pretest/post-test design with a control group. The psycho-educational intervention consisted of an average of 20 weekly two-hour meetings. Results of the repeated analyses of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant improvement in…

According to the literature, affective work competencies and personal-social competencies are but two of the terminologies among the plethora of captions employed to describe the set of behaviors commonly referred to as work ethics. The commonality linking these various captions is that all terminologies relate to the concepts of individual…

The present study focuses on the task characteristics of reading passages and key sentences in a test of second language reading. Using a new methodological approach to describe variation in test task characteristics and explore how differences in these characteristics might relate to examinee performance, it posed the two following research…

The present study was aimed to assess the teachers' encouragement in the classroom for the promotion of students' creativity. A survey method was used for the present research with a sample of 373 subjects from ninth class. For collection of data four instruments were used, namely Student Information Sheet (SIS), two tests of "Creative…

A job analysis was conducted to define a knowledge domain necessary for newly licensed (certified) general science teachers to perform their jobs competently. The results of the job analysis will be used to develop test specifications for the Praxis II Subject Assessment in General Science. An initial draft domain of important knowledge statements…

Four studies are reported that used a metacognitive evaluation procedure that can be group-administered and objectively scored. The procedure assesses the knowledge monitoring component of metacognition by evaluating the discrepancy between students' estimates of how well they are likely to perform on a task and their actual performance. The first…

More valid assessments for multicultural populations would help counseling professionals better serve their clients and improve the lives of many people whose backgrounds and experiences may differ from those of White clients. Four common misuses of multicultural contexts are: (1) assuming that labeling something solves the problem; (2) using…

A job analysis was conducted to define the knowledge domain in which newly licensed (certified) mathematics teachers must be knowledgeable to perform competently. The results of the job analysis were to be used to develop test specifications for the Subject Assessment in Mathematics of the Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning…

The development and validation of a test of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) proficiency are described. The measure is a multiple-choice test based on translation of a literary text from English to Arabic and vice versa. Intended for rapid student placement, it is seen as overcoming most of the defects inherent in traditional translation tests.…

A selection of essays on language testing includes: "Perspectives on the Testing Cycle: Setting the Scene" (Catherine Elder, Gillian Wigglesworth); "The Politicisation of English: The Case of the STEP Test and the Chinese Students" (Lesleyanne Hawthorne); "Developing Language Tests for Specific Populations" (Rosemary…

The methodology that has been used over the past 5 years to develop and implement the Parent Survey of the Department of Defense Dependents' Schools (DoDDS), known as the "Report Card from DoDDS Parents," is described. The focus is not on survey results, but on the processes and procedures used to design appropriate instruments, distribute and…

An overview of Ohio's proficiency testing program is presented and specific information pertaining to the testing at each grade level is detailed. The proficiency tests at each of four grade levels in Ohio include tests in writing, reading, mathematics, and citizenship, with science tests to be added in 1996. All of the tests, at grade level 4, 6,…

During the 1994-95 program year, the staff of Even Start, a family literacy program in Lincoln (Nebraska), and an evaluator collaborated to create a low-stakes, small-scale portfolio assessment to collect information on program impact. The small scale of the evaluation offered opportunities to involve the staff in each step of the portfolio…

If teachers are teaching a set of standard content and assessments are made consistently, the relationship between these various assessments and the curriculum should be of interest. The purpose of this study was to explore the consistency of the mathematical measures of three prominent forms of mathematics assessment: standardized tests,…