The study investigated whether ethnicity and gender influenced anxiety scores at different developmental levels (grades one through three). Internal evidence of test bias was examined by computing internal reliability coefficients for the anxiety measures. The two anxiety scales were found to have adequate reliability coefficients for all groups…

A search for systematic extraneous influences upon high school student ratings of teacher effectiveness is reported, with the view of demonstrating how such influences meeting the criteria (student motivation/preference and class size) need to be considered in the evaluation of the validity of such ratings. (PN)

The author reviews the evidence for the beneficial effects of the Self-Directed Search (SDS), indicates that Hanson and Prediger have misinterpreted the theory, that their evidence is misleading, and that other evidence indicates that males and females of the same type are similar. The virtues of raw scores are summarized. (Author)

This study introduced and demonstrated a new methodology for item and test bias studies: moderated differential item functioning (DIF). This technique expands the DIF methodology to incorporate contextual and sociological variables as moderating effects of the DIF. The study explored differential domain functioning (DDF), so that the focus of…

The writer looks at the often contradictory ways in which tests are seen and used. We are told by its defenders that the SAT is a superb measure of academic promise, but its detractors insist that it is next to useless in helping colleges and universities select their entering class. Test-driven accountability systems have been criticized as…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the "Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative, continuing assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP provides a comprehensive measure of students' learning at critical junctures in their school experience. The…

In testing, educators have two competing intentions. They want to be fair in allowing students to demonstrate what they know without creating testing conventions and formats that let students pretend to know. Teaching-the-test literature shows that test scores can be inflated, meaning that they can go up without a generalized increase in…

The use of the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language with 299 low socioeconomic status Head Start children (three to seven years old) was studied. It is suggested that clinicians making placement decisions regarding groups that differ racially and/or culturally from the normative population consider using pluralistic assessment. (Author/SEW)

Describes a three-stage process of assessment, a structured, complete approach to the appraisal of a whole child. Suggests these systematic procedures ensure, due consideration for physical, mental, or emotional disability, significant educational needs, and related services. (Author)

Standard test results have suggested that Chicanos are less intelligent than Anglo Americans. In the contemporary educational milieu, this means that Chicanos are thus offered educational and occupational opportunities that demand less complexity, less abstraction, and less intelligence, in turn, limiting the Chicano's possibilities for achieving…

Describes the differences between Western and indigenous concepts of depression. Describes several culture-specific Indian depression syndromes. Notes the rising incidence of Native behavior. Describes several theories of depression etiology. Available from: White Cloud Center, Gaines Hall UOHSC, 840 Southwest Gaines Road, Portland, Oregon 97201.…

Arguments and prejudices against the use of individually administered intelligence tests are considered and compared with possible values that may be obtained. Cautions about test score interpretation are discussed. Implications of abolishing intelligence testing are considered and recommendations for effective testing policies are presented. (CTM)

Various testing methods have been developed to assess the intellectual functioning of children with learning disabilities, but testing is only one tool in the comprehensive process of assessment. The alternatives to relying exclusively on intelligence testing include ability tests, individual education plans, and beginning the teaching/programing…

A student may be so unlike other students that his/her aptitude test score fails to be a completely appropriate measure. We consider the problem of using the student's pattern of multiple-choice aptitude test answers to decide whether his/her score is an appropriate ability measure. (Author/CTM)

Reports that the Estes Attitude Scale suffers from the influence of cultural biases that make it inadequate to measure attitude about reading among low-income, Black students in grades three through seven in the rural southern United States. (FL)