Muses on the Report of the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy, "From Gatekeeper to Gateway: Transforming Testing in America." (SR)

A review of five recent studies concludes that on multiple-choice tests, changing uncertain answers improves results; testing plus feedback produces more learning than additional study time; students learn and retain more when they are tested more often; and question and completion formats are equally acceptable for multiple-choice items. (KS)

Created College Classroom Environment Scales (CCES), instrument with six subscales (Cathectic Learning Climate, Professorial Concern, Inimical Ambiance, Academic Rigor, Affiliation, and Structure) to assess social climate of college classrooms. Findings from four studies estimating CCES' reliability and validity suggest it is sufficiently reliable…

Designed Quality of Life Interview Schedule (QOLIS) and tested with 201 severely mentally ill people living in state hospital and community residential facilities. Factor analysis revealed eight factors with face validity and acceptable coefficient alphas. Factors were related meaningfully to overall level of functioning, total symptom scores,…

Discusses nine factors affecting the relationship between learning and test performance that can be controlled by the teacher: time on task, level of learning, question format, number of questions, inclusion of past work, difficulty level, grouping, use of new items, and difficulty distribution. (SR)

Reviews six instruments developed to assess the psychological processes associated with experiences of racism among African Americans. Recommendations for modifications, revisions, and additional reliability and validity evidence are presented for each of these relatively new measures. (SLD)

Provides a broad overview of computerized testing issues with an emphasis on computer-adaptive testing (CAT). A survey of the potential benefits and drawbacks of CAT are given, the process of CAT development is described; and some L2 instruments developed to assess various language skills are summarized. (Author/VWL)

Develops a mapping sentence to construct test items measuring academic and creative abilities in mathematics at four levels. Describes the three stages of the process of developing the mapping sentence and presents examples of test items representing each ability/level combination. Contains 63 references. (Author/ASK)

Studied the validity of the Atopic Dermatitis Assessment Measure (D. Charman and others, 1999) with 171 pediatric patients in Australia using partial credit analyses to produce clinically relevant "word pictures" of grades of severity for atopic dermatitis. Discusses implications for measurement in medicine. (SLD)

Describes the dual-focus approach to creating bilingual measures. This approach includes indigenous researchers from the culture studied as members of a team to develop a concept-driven, rather than translation-driven, research plan and protocol. Illustrates the approach with examples of creating new measures in Spanish and English. (SLD)

A 33-item Likert-type scale, the Strain-Free Negative Affectivity scale, was developed to measure negative affectivity that does not contain strain content. The measure was administered to samples of 225 and 281 college students. Results support the construct validity of the scale's scores. Contains 37 references. (SLD)

Investigated the effects of retaining test items showing differential item functioning (DIF) on aspects of the measurement quality and validity of that test's scores. Analysis of data for 2,145 high school sophomores from the "High School and Beyond Study" shows that the measurement quality of tests is not seriously degraded when items…

Centers on the development of an art test for determining subjects' preferences for simple and complex design, particularly the Uduehi preference test. Finds that this test truly represents elements of design from least to most complex; subjects preferences for designs increases with complexity; and the test is suitable for cross-cultural studies.…

Describes the development and evaluation of a placement test used as a major determinant of eligibility to enroll in first-semester general chemistry at California State University, Fullerton. Contains 17 references. (WRM)

Developed a measure of employee identification with the work group through content analysis, exploratory factor analysis of responses of 140 employees, and confirmatory analyses of responses of 309 employees. Exploratory and confirmatory factor scores support the factor structure of the developed measure and scale scores show acceptable internal…