Describes the development of a personalized version of the Spouse Observation Checklist (SOC), using computer word processing functions to delete neutral and irrelevant items. Comparison of the original and revised checklists with 22 married individuals indicated no significant differences between dependent variables on the two versions. (JAC)

To facilitate science teachers' use of classroom climate assessments, economical short forms of the Classroom Environment Scale, Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire, and My Class Inventory were developed. Each instrument contains only 25 items and is amenable to easy hand scoring. Developmental procedures, reliability, validity, and…

Discusses the construction of validation examinations used to certify that students claiming transfer credit for a required course possess the required level of competency. Covers test specifications, writing test items, pretesting items, and formatting considerations. (CH)

The Science Attitude Scale, published in 1974, was revised to attain a better estimate of its validity. Six principles adhered to in the revision are discussed, and data from 83 preservice elementary teachers explained. (MNS)

Describes the use of an exercise to assess overall language proficiency for placement purposes. The "information gap" test is based on a gapped text which the candidate must complete by asking the tester appropriate questions and writing down the answers. Test rankings have been found to correlate highly with teachers' rankings. (SED)

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children is reviewed in terms of technical and theoretical aspects, the issue of cultural bias, its procedure for comparing cognitive performance and academic achievement, and its predictive validity for academic achievement. The paper concludes by summarizing the test's characteristics that should be considered…

Developed and validated an instrument that assesses five dimensions of single parenting: problem solving skills, parental warmth, discipline procedures, parent rules, enthusiasm for parenting and parent support systems. Results gave statistical support for the Single Parenting Questionnaire, suggesting it may be useful in both clinical and…

The research and review committee of the Association of Physician Assistant Programs (APAP) screens all survey requests and instruments for its members. A survey evaluation form was developed which provides objectivity and uniformity in the review process and permits constructive feedback to investigators. (BS)

The concept of overlap between instruction and assessment is defined. The influence of tests on teaching and the teacher as curricular content decision maker is described. A model of how awareness of this overlap can move curriculum practice into alignment with an assessment system is presented. (Author/MT)

Discusses problems encountered with the cloze test and describes the development and use of an alternate test, the C-Test. The C-Test consists of a number of short tests. Beginning in the second sentence, the second half of every second word is deleted until the required number of mutilations is reached. (SED)

The relationship between instruction and a test is defined as a parallel content-valid relation. This article describes the PLANA procedure, which approaches the problem of content validity by applying constructional rules for producing or judging the content validity relationship between the instructional objective and the items. (BW)

The authors provide information about test construction and testing practices in order to help parents and teachers to ask important and critical questions about them. Issues pertinent to the appropriate selection, use, and interpretation of tests are presented. (Author/CL)

While there is much enthusiasm about the potential of microcomputers in test development and item banking, testing specialists have no interest in actually purchasing a turnkey test construction system. Focusing development efforts on providing methods to assist test directors, rather than external systems which replace institutionalized…

Developed a 33-item, situation-specific instrument that measures assertiveness of adolescents. Based on data from 682 elementary and secondary school students, adequate reliability and validity of the Assertiveness Scale for Adolescents (ASA) were obtained when tested against several variables about which predictions could be made. (BH)

Illustrates a method for generating continuously adjusted age norms using the normative data for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). Specific procedures for calculating age-adjusted Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores also are demonstrated, with a worked example. Comparisons show continuous norming scores are more…