In this paper, a proposal is made by which a content validity coefficient can be calculated. An example of the use of the coefficient is given, demonstrating that different question combinations in a CSE biology examination in which a choice of questions was given gave different levels of content validity. (Author)

The literature reveals a marked decline in performance on the Visual Reproduction subtest with increasing age. Both level of education and intelligence seemed to exert a substantial influence on performance which may be significant in clinical evaluations. (Author)

Seventy-two Black, White, and Mexican-American preschool children participated in a study which examined the effects of ethnicity and sex differences on the children's self-esteem. (CM)

Because the skills tested on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are higher order skills than those of basic literacy, teaching basic literacy will not necessarily improve SAT scores. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which does test literacy, indicates that students do possess basic literacy skills. (IRT) Aspect of National…

Investigates the relationship between self-reinforcement behavior and psychological adjustment (Maslow's need hierarchy) in 93 college students. (CM)

The computational difficulty of the word problem sections of eight standardized achievement tests was analyzed with respect to the variety of computational procedures and the number of digits per whole number computation. Analysis reveals considerable variation among the current tests in terms of computational procedure and difficulty. (Author/MK)

Reports on an experiment, conducted on 63 students of English, which sought to determine whether certain students within heterogeneous population groups can be expected to make significantly more rapid gains than others, and whether scores on a standardized proficiency test can identify students who will make greater or lesser gains. (Author/AM)

Examination of 40 randomly selected high schools in Montana re: the effect of transportation time and school size on student academic achievement revealed that the time spent on buses did not have a negative effect on learning but that the size of school did seem to have an effect. (JC)

Described is the development of the Test of Syntactical Abilities (TSA), an instrument for measuring deaf children's ability to comprehend and produce syntactically correct written sentences. (Author/IM)

Richard Rothstein's booklet "What Do We Know About Declining (Or Rising) Student Achievement?" claims that anecdotes about past educational practices are unreliable and difficult to relate to today's schools. Curricula and tests change; so do student populations. There are no solid historical measures, including three well-known…

Argues that the results of College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests, nationally recognized, high-quality examinations conventionally used to award college credits, should be included in students' grade point averages. This would provide important information to graduate schools. Regents College (New York) has adopted a procedure for…

Examination of the history of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) program and the College Board can inform the current debate about testing by shedding light on admission and access issues that have been addressed by the program over the years. It has strived to balance consistency with the flexibility to adapt testing to new knowledge about…

Argues against the current penchant for national testing. Argues against the notion that national tests will turn unfit teachers into fit ones. Notes that parents do not send the schools standardized children and that standardized tests are not what will make a nonreader into a reader. Argues that many good books are ruined by prematurely forcing…

To relieve overcrowded, distracting, and uncomfortable testing conditions, the Dade County (Florida) Public Schools began administering the High School Competency Test on two successive Saturdays, instead of on school days. Classrooms were used, and students received free breakfasts and lunches. The new arrangement improved student performance and…

Offers four indices and underlying criteria to help teacher education administrators and leaders identify candidates for a multiple subjects teaching credential who are at risk of failing the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) using California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) scores. Yields four indices for cumulative, writing,…