Admission to the California State University system is based on an eligibility index (EI) that considers high school grade point average (GPA) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or American College Test (ACT) scores. Whether the SAT adds to the accuracy of prediction of college success or is redundant, and whether it is biased against specific…

Recent investigations of the extent to which students with disabilities are allowed to participate in major national data collections used in measurement-driven education reform suggest that 40 to 50 percent of students with disabilities are typically excluded from major assessments, although they are included to a greater degree in assessments…

This study assessed the utility of using both the American College Testing (ACT) Program composite score and high school grade point average (GPA) as predictors of students' success in college, as measured by the GPA at the end of the students' first semester in college. Data were obtained from 420 first-time entering freshmen at a medium-sized…

This pair of studies investigated the psychometric adequacy of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R) with a population of 8,396 potentially gifted elementary children of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds as well as diverse emotional and social environments. Study I showed subjects' profiles differed strikingly from…

Rural non-readers and culturally different students often perform poorly on intelligence tests. The Gilliland General Purpose Learning Potential Examination is an intelligence test developed specifically to indicate the learning potential of those students. Five of the examination's seven sections are unrelated to the ability to read, one requires…

A one-page introduction is followed by summaries of articles and documents on teacher competency testing. George F. Madaus argues that, although tests serve some useful functions, treating them as a major mechanism for reforming education is questionable. Peter A. Garcia examines the negative impact of testing on minority teachers and minorities…

Teacher-made mastery tests were administered in a classroom-sized sample to study their decision consistency. Decision-consistency of criterion-referenced tests is usually defined in terms of the proportion of examinees who are classified in the same way after two test administrations. Single-administration estimates of decision consistency were…

A detailed analysis of the significant gender differences observed in performance on the mathematics portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in 1986 was performed for students enrolled in the Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland). A disaggregation of data from the 1986 SAT administration was performed to examine homogeneous subgroups…

In spring 1986 Anglo students received higher scores than Blacks or Hispanics on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), on all subtests and at all grade levels in the Denver (Colorado) Public Schools. This study, by attempting to locate patterns of item response, seeks to identify items in the ITBS that suggest differential pupil achievement by…

The 1985 volume of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) newsletter includes articles on the role of grammar in language teaching; teaching English in Spanish schools; software for English as a second language (ESL); ESL teacher employment overseas; reading in English for special purposes; ESL techniques for…

Debate on criteria for assessing sex fairness in occupational interest inventories has centered on four issues: (1) whether interpretational material should stress the prospect of social change or the reality of present occupational segregation by sex; (2) the appropriate form for reporting scores (raw, pooled sex norms, or separate sex norms);…

This primer is an introduction to item response theory (also called item characteristic curve theory, or latent trait theory) as it is used most commonly--for scoring multiple choice achievement or aptitude tests. Written for the testing practitioner with minimum training in statistics and psychometrics, it presents and illustrates the basic…

In a series of essays, the author analyzes and comments on the perceived weaknesses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing program. The basis of his criticism is that the NAEP has attempted to establish national norms, thereby disregarding the pluralistic nature of American society and the historical basis for community…

Through dynamic testing (the notion that tailored testing can be extended to the use of a learning oriented approach to assessment), analysis were made of how motivational, personality, and cognitive style factors interact with assessment approaches to yield performance data. Testing procedures involving simple feedback, elaborated feedback, and…

This book summarizes theory and discusses major issues pertaining to child development in the early childhood years. Chapter I provides an introduction to the conceptual framework and major theories of child development. Chapter II deals with motor, sensory, and perceptual development. Chapter III focuses on the cognitive-developmental theory of…