As data on the reliability and validity of ratings of infant temperament have accumulated, researchers have begun to ask what caregiver ratings really measure. An argument has been made that ratings of social behavior are less a reflection of enduring individual differences than a measure of rater characteristics and error variance. This study…

The Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) (Hiskey, 1966) has been regarded by reviewers as one of the best instruments for assessing the learning abilities of hearing-impaired children. However, there has been a paucity of research on the validity of this test. Further, there is no established test-retest reliability, and questions…

Despite the popularity of both multiple-choice (MC) and true-false (TF) items, most investigations comparing the two formats have done so to determine the optimum number of choices to be given to students within a given time period. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the reliabilities and the validities of both formats when the items…

The purposes of this study were to examine the reliability and validity of a basal reading series mastery test, and to explore the appropriateness and usefulness of two strategies for investigating the reliability and validity of criterion-referenced tests. Subjects were 47 sixth graders, who were tested on the SRA Reading Achievement Test, the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a basal reading series mastery test. Subjects were 47 fifth graders, who were tested on the SRA Reading Achievement Test, the Ginn 720 End-of-level 11 Mastery Test (MT), and the Word Reading Test. A subgroup of 22 children was tested a second time on the MT. Traditional…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a basal reading series mastery test. Subjects were 25 fourth graders, who were tested once on the SRA Reading Achievement Test, twice on the Scott-Foresman End-of-Book 9 Criterion-referenced Test (CRT), and once on the Word Reading Test. Traditional psychometric correlational…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a basal reading series mastery test. Subjects were 21 fourth graders, who were tested once on the SRA Reading Achievement Test, twice on the Holt Basic Reading Series Management Program Level 13 Test (MPLT), and once on the Word Reading Test. Traditional psychometric…

Interest in and use of the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment's (SOMPA's) Health History Inventories (HHI) has been intensive despite the unavailability of psychometric data estimating its stability. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study designed to provide data on the stability of the HHI over a four year period. The…

The New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is designed to measure certain basic language and mathematics skills of students entering New Jersey colleges. The primary purpose of the two mathematics sections is to determine whether students are prepared to begin certain college-level work without a handicap in computation or…

The use of three remedies for errors in the measurement of ability that arise from differences in rater stringency is discussed. Models contrasted are: (1) Conventional; (2) Handicap; and (3) deterministic Rater Response Theory (RRT). General model requirements, power, bias of measures, computing cost, and complexity are contrasted. Contrasts are…

Baumrind (1971) proposed three distinct patterns of parental authority (permissiveness, authoritarianism, and authoritativeness) and measured these parenting styles through interviews with parents and their children and through observations of parents interacting with their children. This study was undertaken to develop a readily-accessible,…

This paper provides principles which can be used to mark mathematics papers in secondary schools. Sections included are: (1) "Drafting the Marking Scheme" (describing 15 general considerations); (2) "Calculations" (listing 16 grading principles on computation papers); (3) "Graphs" (providing four guidelines on graph papers); (4) "Constructions"…

Since 1977, South Carolina law has required every school to develop annual and long-range (3-year) plans based on a needs assessment. Based on a 1984 law, the State Board of Education adopted the following effective schools indicators as bases of assessments: (1) instructional leadership of the principal; (2) emphasis on academics, including basic…

This initial study phase deals with the accuracy of the information provided by students on the newly revised Student Descriptive Questionnaire (SDQ). The SDQ, an optional part of the College Board's Admissions Testing Program, is intended to supplement the information base to improve the quality of decisions made by college admissions personnel,…

An item format incorporating pattern recognition was designed to assess medical students' abilities in the area of clinical diagnosis. A group of approximately 20 faculty members of five New England medical schools met in Worcester for half of a day to develop pattern recognition items. Teams of four to six physicians were assigned to work on…