An achievement test for the secondary school vocational electricity programs in South Carolina was constructed by a research coordinating unit (RCU) project. A trade and industrial supervisor and consultant, three electricity instructors, and four industry representatives comprised an advisory committee that participated in its development. Three…

A study compared the results of administration of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) oral proficiency interview and those of two laboratory-administered Modern Language Association tests, one in the listening mode and one in the speaking mode. The comparative study was undertaken to…

Two optimalization models for the construction of tests with a maximal value of coefficient alpha are given. Both models have a linear form and can be solved by using a branch-and-bound algorithm. The first model assumes an item bank calibrated under the Rasch model and can be used, for instance, when classical test theory has to serve as an…

This report is the third in a series of research projects concerning abilities and performance processes, particularly in school mathematics. A theoretical scrutiny of traditional psychometric testing, cognitive processes, their interrelationships, and an empirical application of the theoretical considerations on the level of junior secondary…

In a study of the usefulness of the Rasch model for examining tests for possible bias, 102 native Spanish-speaking and 104 native English-speaking preschool four-year-olds in a remedial education program were administered Spanish and English versions of the Cooperative Preschool Inventory, a standardized measure of school readiness, The Rasch…

Using data from a National Child Development Study (NCDS) in Great Britain, the applications of instrumental variable methods and structural equation models to estimating instrumental variables are presented. A subset of the longitudinal educational and home background data on children born in England, Wales and Scotland in a March week of 1958 is…

Two fundamental problems in mental test theory are to estimate true score and to estimate the amount of error when testing an examinee. In this report, three probability models which characterize a single test item in terms of a population of examinees are described. How these models may be modified to characterize a single examinee in terms of an…

The stimulus for this colloquium was the convergence of several significant developments bearing on the construct validation of standardized tests and other assessment methods. Of these developments, some were fundamental to psychology as a science; others reflected socio-political pressures on measurement in education and employment. The ten…

Person fit in the Rasch one parameter model is investigated. The first set of data deals with grade 3 students responding to the mathematics computation and reading vocabulary subscales of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills Forms (CTBS/S). The second set of data deals with grade 3 students responding to the Basic Skills Assessment Program…

After employees of private firms completed several rapid reading classes and achieved remarkable gains on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, the question was raised as to whether the increases in scores were due to the increased number of items attempted on the posttest. A preliminary analysis indicated that students attempted an average of 14.6 and…

The reliability and validity of measurement is analyzed by a sampling model based on generalizability theory. A model for the relationship between a measurement procedure and an attribute is developed from an analysis of how measurements are used and interpreted in science. The model provides a basis for analyzing the concept of an error of…

A theory was conceived to explain student, teacher, and classroom environment characteristics or constructs, which may influence student attitudes toward school and various subjects. A questionnaire representing the constructs, the Inventory of Affective Aspects of Schooling (IAAS), was developed and administered to 601 students in grade 4. Factor…

The literature on criterion referenced testing is full of discussions concerning whether classical measurement techniques are appropriate, whether variance is necessary, whether new indices of reliability are needed, and the like. What appears to be lacking, however, is a clear and simple discussion of why the problems occur. This paper suggests…

The results of five studies into the characteristics of wrong answers as a class of divergent behavior are presented. The evidence from these studies, when taken in combination, suggests that the tendency of researchers to ignore wrong answers has been a fundamental procedural error of broad scope and serious consequences. Instead of the straight…

The psychometric application of Joreskog's procedure for simultaneous factor analysis in several populations is illustrated. Using Scholastic Aptitude Test data from two samples, procedures are shown for checking test construction assumptions about units of measurement and error variance, within and between samples. (Author)