The 80-item Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal-Form A was administered to 415 business management students in Australia as a step toward adapting the test for Australian use. The results correspond reasonably closely to the U.S. data. Analysis of group results and item statistics provided information about necessary modifications. (SLD)

Draws on 20 years of experience as College Board staff member to discuss the traditional role of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), test bias, a new and emerging role for the SAT, and the SAT's interaction with other testing methods. (NB)

Interactive computerized tests accepting unrestricted natural-language input were used to assess knowledge of clinical biophysics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Comparison of responses to open-ended sequential questions and multiple-choice questions on the same material found the two formats test different aspects of competence.…

Reports a survey of Arizona teachers and administrators on (1) the extent to which teachers believe that standardized achievement tests reflect the language arts curriculum; (2) student reactions to standardized tests across grade levels; and (3) perceptions of the fairness of such tests across ethnicities and socioeconomic areas. Finds that…

A scenario and accompanying questions and answers are posed to help educators examine possible problems in interpreting a student's test score profile. Profiles developed and used soundly are very helpful, but possible pitfalls in test interpretation must be recognized. (SLD)

Item response theory and the graded response model were used to examine measurement qualities of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, with data from 2,348 veterans (participants in the National Vietnam Veteran's Adjustment Study). Implications for improved assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder are…

A developed computer-administered form of the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and the clinician form of the instrument were administered to 214 psychiatric outpatients and 78 community adults. Results support the reliability and validity of the computer-administered version as an alternative to the clinician-administered version. (SLD)

Tested hypothesis that achievement would be maximized by matching student's Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-identified processing strength with sequential or simultaneous instruction. Findings from analyses of data from three students with strengths in sequential processing and three students with strengths in simultaneous processing…

Reacts to previous article by McConaughy by reviewing many uses of rating scales in delivery of school psychological services, provides guidelines for selecting and using rating scales, examines Achenbach scales in some detail as way to illustrate points about usage and development, and concludes with discussion about advancements in development…

Investigated possibility of racial bias in one of few extant life satisfaction measures appropriate for children and adolescents, the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale. Participants were 115 black and 106 white adolescents in grades 8 through 12. Found no evidence of bias with respect to reliability, factorial validity, or concurrent validity.…

The five chapters of this report provide resources that deal with the validity, generalizability, comparability, performance standards, and fairness, equity, and bias of performance assessments. The book is written for experienced educational measurement practitioners, although an extensive familiarity with performance assessment is not required.…

Whether traditional Likert-type focus of attention at work scales would outperform the one-item scales developed by D. Gardner and others (1989) was studied with responses of 492 automobile-services-club employees. Confirmatory factor analysis did not show either method to be better empirically. Situations in which the one-item scale might be…

Offers a framework for remedying some of the problems associated with the use of statistical significance tests through modifying journal editorial policies. Reviews examples from some journals that have established guidelines for reporting results of statistical significance tests. (SLD)

Purpose of mini-series is to present current conceptualizations of the structure of intelligence, new research on human cognitive abilities and their interpretations, and pertinent, practical considerations regarding the use of intelligence tests in schools. Discusses educational-policy issues as well as diagnostic and treatment-utility issues.…

Uses focus group data (groups of 7, 12, 8, and 5) to examine how cross-subject matter groups of elementary and secondary New York state teachers respond to state-level testing as a way to change their classroom practices. The analyses highlight the nature of the tests, professional development for teachers, and the rationales for and consequences…