A REVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE LITERATURE INDICATED A NEED TO BROADEN THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPTION OF COMPREHENSION AND TO EXTEND THE USUAL RANGE OF READING SKILLS IN A READING TEST WITH FOUR MAJOR DIVISIONS--(1) RATE IS A TEST OF THE READER'S READING SPEED, (2) VOCABULARY ITEMS TEST HIS RECOGNITION OF WORDS, TERMS, AND IDIOMS, AS WELL AS HIS ABILITY TO…

This study evolved from a practical field situation that dictated an item format change. The item type in question is a variety of the multiple true-false item, widely used in state and municipal civil service examinations. Items are produced, not by combining pairs of independent true-false items, but as a means of salvaging not quite adequate…

Though domain-oriented and norm-referenced tests are appropriate for some situations, objective-oriented and criterion-referenced tests must be used to gather additional information. Objectives for such tests must include a statement of the desired performance, the test conditions, and the standards of acceptance. When tests are constructed the…

The Cognitive Vocational Maturity Test (CVMT) was constructed to measure knowledge and abilities dealing with the characteristics and requirements of a wide range of occupations. Fifteen cognitive vocational maturity areas were identified; the present form of the test consists of 120 multiple choice items, whose reading grade levels range from 1.4…

TWO NEW TESTS WERE DEVELOPED IN THE INTER-AMERICAN TEST SERIES IN PARALLEL ENGLISH AND SPANISH EDITIONS. A PRESCHOOL TEST WAS ADDED TO THE TESTS OF GENERAL ABILITY AND A LEVEL 1 TEST ADDED TO THE TESTS OF READING. ALSO THE SPANISH EDITIONS OF SOME EARLIER TESTS WERE REVISED AND ADDITIONAL INTERPRETATIVE MATERIALS DEVELOPED. THE AUTHOR BELIEVED…

Developed Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge test (ADK) to assess level of knowledge about Alzheimer's disease of caregivers, professionals, and others involved in caring for Alzheimer's patients. Describes test development and presents ADK test. Discusses preliminary results suggesting that lack of knowledge is more common than misconceptions.…

Depending on the type of behavior one wants to measure, competency tests are either written or performance oriented. Information and cognitive processing are best measured by written demonstrations of the knowledge. Skills ability is best measured by performance testing. (Author/JOW)

Developed the Bulimia Test (BULIT) based on responses of clinically identified females (N=18) and normal female college students (N=119) to preliminary test items. Results showed that the BULIT provided an objective, reliable, and valid measure by which to identify individuals with symptoms of bulimia. (Instrument is appended.) (LLL)

Developed empirically based criteria for use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to aid in the assessment and diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in patients (N=200). Analysis based on an empircally derived decision rule correctly classified 74 percent of the patients in each group. (LLL)

Developed and tested a short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) in 107 subjects. Results showed that when statistical corrections are made for item overlap between the two forms, the resulting correlation drops to .90 and that similar results were obtained in a cross-validation study. (LLL)

An overview of key features of the Kaufman Assessment Battery (K-ABC) for Children and a history of its development are presented. The discussion covers administration and scoring, standardization, reliability, validity, and educational translation. Some early postpublication research is presented, and conclusions about the possible impact of the…

Internal consistency as one rationale for item selection from the unverse of possible test items is discussed and formulae are presented which relate the maximum internal consistency of a test to the largest eigenvalue of the interitem correlation matrix. A computer program to perform these calculations is presented. (Author/JKS)

An extensive nonparametric dimensionality analysis of latent structure was conducted on three forms of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) (December 1991, June 1992, and October 1992) using the DIMTEST model in confirmatory analyses and using DIMTEST, FAC, DETECT, HCA, PROX, and a genetic algorithm in exploratory analyses. Results indicate that…

It is widely believed that item selection methods using the maximum information approach (MI) can maintain high efficiency in trait estimation by repeatedly choosing high discriminating (alpha) items. However, the consequence is that they lead to extremely skewed item exposure distribution in which items with high alpha values becoming overly…