The evolution of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and certification process is traced. The challenges posed by combining, for certification purposes, the scores from internal and external assessments of school candidates are discussed in the face of the low reliability of teachers'…

The Individualized Quality of Life Scale (IQOLS) is a two-component scale designed to measure the quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients. The two components are the patient's satisfaction with 14 different life areas and the importance of the life areas to the individual. By combining the two components, an overall QOL score can be obtained that…

The purpose of this study was to compare the reliabilities of two-, three-, four-, and five-choice tests using an incremental option paradigm. Test forms were created incrementally, a method approximating actual test construction procedures. Participants were 154 12th-grade students from the Portland (Oregon) area. A 45-item test with two options…

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Extraversion-Introversion scale was compared with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) 0 scale (Social Introversion) for 18 male and 66 female adult students in introductory courses in psychology, aged 17 to 83 years. A status survey design was used with a priori and post hoc groupings.…

Psychopathology in outpatient children was explored using two classification systems. Clinically derived Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition, Revised) (DSM-III R) diagnoses in three high frequency diagnostic groups were compared to empirically derived Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores for an overall sample of…

Equivalence in reliability and validity across 4-point and 6-point scales was assessed by fitting different measurement models through confirmatory factor analysis of a multitrait-multimethod covariance matrix. Responses to nine Likert-type items designed to measure perceived quantitative ability, self-perceived usefulness of quantitative…

The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) is a relatively new, statewide performance assessment of students in grades 3, 5, and 8. When first administered in May of 1991, the MSPAP included a battery of performance assessment tasks designed to generate written or drawn responses to reading texts. This study evaluated selected…

Abstracts, titles, and sources are given for documents concerning the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) and Inwald Survey 3 (IS3). The following titles are included: (1) "Five-Year Follow-Up Study of Departmental Terminations as Predicted by 16 Preemployment Psychological Indicators"; (2) "The Predictive Validity of Psychological…

Learning mode preferences of secondary school students were compared for 1,259 students from Sydney (Australia), 837 students from Perth (Australia), 2,125 students from England, and 570 students from Minneapolis (Minnesota). Students were in grades 7 through 12. Preferences for cooperative, competitive, and individualized learning modes were…

This report analyzes the performance of the portion of the graduating class of 1991 from the Houston (Texas) Independent School District (HSID) who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and related tests associated with the College Board's testing program. In 1991, 3,907 (52%) HISD students took the SAT; 556 (14.2%) of the HISD students who took…

How two students with the same number-correct score, calculated by dramatically different patterns of responses, can achieve the same ability estimate is demonstrated. The present study investigated the incidence of person misfit to the model in a nationally standardized test of achievement devised using the Rasch item response theory model. It…

The relationships among independent observer ratings of a child care program on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), state department personnel ratings of program quality using the Child Development Program Evaluation Scale (CDPES), and self-evaluation ratings using the self-assessment instrument designed for the Early Childhood…

This study explores the test-retest consistency of computer adaptive tests of varying lengths. The testing model used was designed as a mastery model to determine whether an examinee's estimated ability level is above or below a pre-established criterion expressed in the metric (logits) of the calibrated item pool scale. The Rasch model was used…

The psychometric properties of a paper-and-pencil instrument for assessing individual differences in cerebral dominance are explored. The instrument, Your Style of Learning and Thinking (SOLAT), contains 50 multiple-choice questions. The study subjects consisted of three groups: 235 undergraduate and graduate students, 124 undergraduate and…

Self/other agreement between self-concept ratings by the individual and self-concepts inferred by significant others is of theoretical and practical importance, but the review by J. S. Shrauger and T. J. Schoeneman (1979) found no evidence for such agreement. In the present investigation, the Self Description Questionnaire III (SDQIII) was…