A study was undertaken to develop a checklist of desirable characteristics of mail questionnaires. The checklist was to reflect some degree of consensus among experts in survey research and to be used as a general guide by novice questionnaire designers. A second objective was to take a first step toward development of an objective measure of…

In April 1987, a pilot study was undertaken to develop an instrument designed to assess the effects of life events on undergraduate students' academic performance. Focus was on the design and construction of the instrument--the Life Events and Academic Performance Questionnaire (LEAPQ). Subjects were 75 male and 75 female undergraduates at a large…

A new test construction method based on integer linear programming is described. This method selects optimal tests in small amounts of computer time. The new method, called the Cluster-Based Method, assumes that the items in the bank have been grouped according to their item information curves so that items within a group, or cluster, are…

Five papers given at a conference on the role of testing in the teaching profession are presented. The conference partners included the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Educational Testing Service, Center for Fair and Open Testing, and National Education Association. The following issues are discussed: appropriate uses of…

The current status of banks of test items existing across the United States was determined through a survey conducted between September and December 1987. Item "bank" in this context does not imply that the test items are available in computerized form, but simply that "deposited" test items can be withdrawn for use. Emphasis…

While earlier, more blatant forms of sex discrimination may have declined, some researchers have suggested the existence of more subtle forms of bias, based less on gender than on gender-related attributes. The investigation of bias related to either gender or gender-related attributes requires a scale to address both the gender-relatedness of…

Pointing out that student testing in literature should take into account each school's philosophy concerning the literature curriculum, this digest explores the broad domain of literature study and looks at specific objectives and outcomes in literature testing. The digest discusses answers to the following questions: (1) Where are the broad…

The second of three sequels to the booklet "Student Assessment," this booklet begins by describing and giving examples of three different forms that short-answer questions can take: (1) completion items; (2) unique-answer questions; and (3) open short-answer questions. Guidelines are then provided for deciding which type of question to…

Based on Leviton and Hughes' conceptualization of variable clusters that affect evaluation utilization, a procedure for measuring utilization potential was developed. Five clusters of variables are consistently related to utilization: relevance, credibility, communication, information processing, and user involvement and advocacy. The…

Interviews with school administrators; surveys of large school districts, local businesses and governmental agencies; and reviews of educational management literature by the Austin Independent School District (AISD) Office of Research and Evaluation indicated that a competency-based instrument for administrator evaluation was needed. This paper…

A definition of leader authentication was developed, focusing on a leader's salience of self over role, non-manipulation of subordinates and accepting of personal and organizational responsibility. The Leader Authenticity Scale (LAS) was constructed to be consistent with this definition. Its validity was checked by specifying and testing…

The problem of change scores' correlation with initial status and the problem of low reliability in the measurement of change are addressed. By treating the correlation between initial status and change as a design problem rather than a statistical issue, research questions can be formulated in terms of changes in the shapes of growth curves…

The Printing Performance School Readiness Test is an empirically derived instrument designed to aid in the early identification of preschool children who are at risk for school failure. The test is based on the outcome of a research program dealing with various aspects of children's printing that involved over 400 normal, non-repeating, native…

The United States Employment Service (USES) Specific Aptitude Test Battery (SATB) for Customer-Service Representative is evaluated from three points of view: (1) technical adequacy of the research; (2) fairness to minorities; and (3) usefulness of the battery to Employment Service staff and employers in selecting individuals for training in…

The revision of the United States Employment Service (USES) Interest Check List (ICL) is described. The ICL was designed as an aid to Employment Service counselors by helping counselees to become more aware of the variety of occupational fields that exist and to identify their occupational interests as a basis for occupational exploration. The…