Presents an open letter to President Clinton regarding his statements about reading standards and testing made in his 1997 State of the Union Address. Points out serious problems in having a national reading standard and trying to get every fourth grader to meet that standard. Discusses problems with curing the so-called reading problem by use of…

The scale-level factor structure of the adolescent form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-A) was examined in a clinical sample of 358 adolescents receiving psychiatric services. Nine factors accounted for 75.6% of total variance in scale and subscale raw scores. Findings support use of the MMPI-A for assessment of…

Psychometric support for the use of the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist (LASC), a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was provided by a study involving 639 high-risk adolescents. The LASC had appropriate levels of reliability and appeared to detect distress and PTSD as a function of trauma exposure. (SLD)

The Chinese Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescents (MMPI-A) was applied in Hong Kong to a normative sample of 565 male and 664 female students aged 14 to 18. In conjunction with previous research, findings support the possibility of cultural differences in item interpretation, which should be considered in clinical interpretations…

Contains a summary of the measurement strategies developed and used by the Technical Analysis Group on behalf of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Also describes some remaining measurement dilemmas in the context of the National Board's assessments and suggests some areas for further research. (SLD)

This volume is the fourth in a series for college faculty and advanced graduate students, "Survival Skills for Scholars." It offers practical advice for developing, using, and grading classroom examinations, focusing on traditional multiple-choice and constructed-response tests rather than alternative assessments. (SLD)

The psychometric characteristics of the Cultural Life Style Inventory were studied with a sample of 402 Puerto Rican college students. Factor analysis revealed high factorial stability for Puerto Ricans. Similarities and differences with a previously studied Mexican American population are discussed. (SLD)

In "The Bell Curve," Herrnstein and Murray contend that intelligence has become increasingly important in social stratification, as society places a growing premium on cognitive skills. In contrast, analysis of interstate variation in the link between IQ and income shows that the link is stronger in states that use IQ-like examinations…

The usefulness of traditional concepts of validity and reliability, developed for large-scale assessments, for the classroom context is explored. Alternate frameworks that situate these constructs in teachers' work in classrooms are presented, and their use in an assessment course for preservice teachers is described. (SLD)

Fournier, coordinator of the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP), claims that score differences are associated with linguistic and gender differences. These results have long been substantiated. The expectation-setting process has little reliability or validity. SAIP does not help teachers, and should not determine what students learn.…

This study examined the use of psychoeducational evaluations by surveying 91 service providers to college students with learning disabilities. Findings indicated that data from psychoeducational evaluations serve as the primary basis for both eligibility and specific accommodation determinations. Respondents reported the most useful information…

Examines international assessments, like the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, and what they can tell about how well Canadian students perform relative to other participating jurisdictions and how well jurisdictions do on different assessments at different points in time. Discusses uses of international comparisons to inform…

In this article, the author offers a new vision of assessment that has the potential of bringing about remarkable gains in student achievement. The time has come to take advantage of the new understanding of the potential of assessment and to fundamentally rethink the relationship between assessment practices and effective schools in the United…

This paper sets out the findings from a large-scale analysis of the Northern Ireland Transfer Procedure Tests, used to select pupils for grammar schools. As it was not possible to get completed test scripts from government agencies, over 3000 practice scripts were completed in simulated conditions and were analysed to establish whether the tests…

We administered announced, multiple-choice quizzes to 1 of 2 sections of a Psychology of Learning course in each of 2 consecutive semesters. We administered the quizzes between the first and second exams and discontinued them between the second and third. At the end of each semester, students completed a questionnaire about their studying and…