Social class, as reflected in socioeconomic status (SES), has such a profound influence on all aspects of performance that it is perhaps the most powerful predictor of academic achievement. Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests in one form or another have been used for quantitative assessment of academic ability since Alfred Binet first developed the…

America's most widely used college admission examinations systematically underpredict the abilities of high school girls, who make up over 52% of the test-takers. Each year more than three million students who plan to attend college take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying…

Reported research and analysis concerning competency tests required for high school graduation and concerning dropping out of school point to ambiguous hypotheses about the effects of graduation tests on early school leaving. A review of the literature indicates the existence of data on the process nature of dropping out, the centrality of…

Potential benefits of using item response theory in test construction are evaluated, based on the experience and evidence accumulated during 9 years of using a three-parameter model in the construction of major achievement batteries. Specific benefits covered include obtaining sample-free item calibrations and item-free person measurement,…

This monograph presents a synthesis of information on the education of Hispanic handicapped children. The problem is set forth in Chapter 1 which also covers approaches used to obtain information on issues and trends in the field. Assessment issues are focused on in Chapter 2 which reviews basic assumptions underlying assessment as well as…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of log-linear models in detecting test item bias. The evaluation of the log-linear approach in this regard will focussed on the following: (1) the stability of the procedure across replications--the effect of sampling error across random samples of ethnic groups; (2) the amount of artifactual…

A technique for detecting item bias that is responsive to attitudinal measurement considerations is a maximum likelihood factor analysis procedure comparing multivariate factor structures across various subpopulations, often referred to as SIFASP. The SIFASP technique allows for factorial model comparisons in the testing of various hypotheses…

"Outlier studies" identify items for which extreme differences in performance by contrasting groups occur; these extreme items are the "outliers" referred to. Review of the studies conducted on tests receiving major use in higher education reveals that though one cannot make a priori classifications of outliers with confidence,…

Prior research indicates that language-handicapped children obtain higher test scores when tested by personally familiar examiners than when tested by personally unfamiliar examiners. The present investigation inquired whether this finding is due to examinees' actual differential performance across the two examiner conditions, or whether it is the…

This study examines item bias on Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) for 132 Anglo-American and Mexican-American children in grades one through four. Analyses of variance were employed to assess item bias as defined by items x ethnicity interactions. Follow-up analyses were performed using a Bonferroni-type…

The convergent and discriminant validity of a wide range of cognitive and social competence measures were investigated with 400 students (7-11) stratified by race (white and black) and educational placement (regular and special education for mildly handicapped students). The majority of special education students were classified as learning…

Thirty-three counselors attending a workshop at the 1988 Annual Convention of the American Association for Counseling and Development were asked to rate six "critical incident" exercises on bias in test content and unfairness in test usage. About two-thirds of the subjects were female, and one-third were male. The subjects ranged in age…

Societal changes have caused new directions for research on interest measurement. Specifically, the woman's movement of the early 1970s with the resultant awareness of sex inequities in the U.S. occupational distribution, has encouraged changes in gender-free occupational titles and equal endorsements by sex within scales of item pools and revised…

This study follows a 1980 moratorium on group mental ability testing called by the district's superintendent when questions relating to the informational value and cost-effectiveness of the Otis Lennon Mental Ability Test (OLMA) were raised by the Oklahoma City Public School District. Criticisms of intelligence tests and relevant issues are…

Argues that the basic problem with standardized tests to test Mexican American students is that they lack "ethnic validity": they do not accurately or appropriately account for cultural, linguistic, or experiential ethnic differences. (Author/JM)