Six approaches to assessing test item bias were examined: transformed item difficulty, point biserial correlations, chi-square, factor analysis, one parameter item characteristic curve, and three parameter item characteristic curve. Data sets for analysis were generated by a Monte Carlo technique based on the three parameter model; thus, four…

Major speeches presented at the conference on human and civil rights in education are summarized. Issues discussed at the conference include: the extent to which standardized testing infringes on the rights of students and educators; the existing uses of educational testing in public schools; and ways to eliminate misuses of tests by educators,…

The first of three documents on Project SEARCH (Search for Exceptional Abilities Reachable among Children with Handicaps) considers methods of detecting cognitive giftedness in exceptional children. It is explained that Catell's cognitive model of fluid intelligence is the basic premise used. Individual sections are presented on hearing impaired,…

Six current issues in the use of tests are examined in this paper. Are the tests used in education valid? In general and to a reasonably satisfactory extent they are. Is the emphasis these tests place on cognitive achievements a serious limitation? Because of the basic and pervasive role of cognition in human affairs, and in the absence of any…

This brief, filed by Educational Testing Service (ETS), a non-profit educational corporation, deals with whether Test 21, a test of verbal ability developed by the U.S. Civil Service Commission and used by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia to select police recruits, is sufficiently job-related to be legally permissible…

The current study is concerned with identifying racial-ethnic differences in cognitive strategies or structures that are related to performance on verbal ability tests. The study had two goals: (1) to compare the semantic equivalency of intelligence test items between racial-ethnic groups, and (2) to examine the relationships of individual…

The effects of the protocol film series, Concepts and Patterns in Teacher-Pupil Interaction, were measured by a film-based test after the test had undergone validation. The test, Categorizing Teacher Behavior, evidenced a high level of reliability and validity in a graduate level course in educational psychology. The test was judged valid by a…

In March of 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that "if an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is prohibited." Although the decided case concerned discrimination on the basis of race, the act also bars discrimination because of religion, sex,…

The measurement difficulties of experiential learning arise because assessment is often individualized, off-campus learning experiences are not well structured or defined and paper-and-pencil tests are often inappropriate measurement devices. The assessment process requires quality control to assure that it can accurately indicate whether learning…

Because of the developmental characteristics of young children, the potential user of tests for educational evaluation needs to be keenly alert to the kinds of decisions which can be made on the basis of testing and to the limitations of testing when young children serve as subjects. The choice of a test to be used will depend on the type of…

Contents of this book include the following collection of articles: "Assessing Minority Group Children: Challenges for School Psychologists," Thomas Oakland; "The NEA Testing Moratorium," Boyd Bosma; "Cultural Myopia: The Need for a Corrective Lens," Martin H. Gerry; "Assumptions Underlying Psychological Testing," T. Ernest Newland;…

This invitational conference examined some of the problems of measurement and evaluation in the inner city. Both the traditional tools and techniques of measurement in evaluation are being questioned, particularly by ghetto community members. Thus, a need was seen for clearly justifying the existence of testing and research efforts and enlisting…

Racial factors in personnel selection procedures and the performance of racial and socio-economic groups on a testing instrument widely used in personnel selection and in public schools are discussed. The study questions whether individual test items are relatively easier for one racial group than for another, and whether there is a relationship…

In a recent study, the mothers of 268 children who were in classes for educable mentally retarded in two public school districts in Southern California were interviewed. The responses of some of these mothers dramatize three issues: (1) biases in the assessment procedures used to label children as mentally retarded; (2) the stigmatization…

This study examined the cross-cultural validity of the sex bias contention with respect to standardized aptitude testing, used for academic prediction purposes in Israel. Analyses were based on the grade point average and scores of 1778 Jewish and 1017 Arab students who were administered standardized college entrance test batteries. (Author/LMO)