Fifty-five dyslexic and 30 normal readers (8-12 years old) were administered the K-ABC. Normal readers demonstrated significantly higher scores on the cognitive subtests of "Hand Movements,""Number Recall, Word Order," and "Matrix Analogies" as well as on each achievement subtest, the "Sequential" and…

Tests of mental ability provide the most precise and efficient means of assessing a person's structure of knowledge. Tests help in cultivating cognitive competence, in developing and identifying excellence. The harmful consequences of not testing are outlined. (Author/AL)

Reviews federal guidelines for psychological test use in employee selection. Summarizes findings on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) use in selection of candidates for police officers. Notes that MMPI scales measuring defensiveness and hysteria have been reported as positively correlated with performance, whereas scales measuring…

Discusses knowledge needed by counselors to help in choosing appropriate tests for particular clients and problems under consideration and in properly interpreting test scores and integrating them into the total assessment process. Focuses on both statistical and technical knowledge about tests and substantive psychological knowledge about…

Reviews three self-report inventories designed to respond to syndrome of burnout in helping professionals: Maslach Burnout Inventory, Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals; and Tedium Scale. Describes each instrument, its development, and related research. Provides recommendations for future research. Discusses suggestions for use of the…

Older adults (n=224) completed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and questionnaire eliciting information about subjects' perceptions of WAIS-R across five categories. Most subjects experienced WAIS-R as interesting, challenging, motivating, and within their endurance. Picture Arrangement and Block Design were only two subtests…

Subtest specificities were determined for each of the 11 subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (D. Wechlser, 1981) for a sample of 200 psychiatric inpatients. Seven subtests were judged to have adequate to ample specificity; four subtests were found to have inadequate specificity for ipsative interpretation. (SLD)

The first article in this section, "Rating Scales and Shared Meaning," by Winifred A. Lopez, discusses the analysis of rating scale data. The second article, "Rating Scale Categories: Dichotomy, Double Dichotomy, and the Number Two," by Mark H. Stone, argues that dichotomies in rating scales are more useful than multiple…

Two tests for the jackknife autocorrelation estimator r(Q2) are evaluated. It is shown that a test based on the conventional approach for estimating the standard error of a jackknife estimator leads to unacceptable Type I error. An alternative approach is proposed that leads to a more satisfactory test when n>20. (Author/SLD)

Findings related to internal consistency, temporal stability, and principal components structures suggest that the Anger Expression Scale (C. Spielberger and others, 1985) and the Pediatric Anger Expression Scale (G. Jacobs and others, 1989), studied with a sample of 415 youth with a mean age of 14.7 years are acceptably reliable. (SLD)

Introduction: The pharmaceutical industry, by funding over 60% of programs in the United States and Canada, plays a major role in continuing medical education (CME), but there are concerns about bias in such CME programs. Bias is difficult to define, and currently no tool is available to measure it. Methods: Representatives from industry and…

High-stakes testing and accountability in the United States cloak the real purpose of assessment--diagnosing learning to inform instruction. Standardized testing drives curricula in many states. Teachers may feel pressured to "teach to the test," although they know it is not best practice. The authors discuss how using several…

Homogeneity of variance (HOV) is a major assumption underlying the validity of many parametric tests. More importantly, it serves as the null hypothesis in substantive studies that focus on cross- or within-group dispersion. Despite a widely acknowledged need for testing HOV, very few textbooks give adequate coverage on the topic, and many HOV…

Two achievement tests--the Peabody Individualized Achievement Test (PIAT) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)--were administered to emotionally disturbed and behavior-disordered children in an inpatient psychiatric setting. The results of this study suggest that these two measures might be used interchangeably in every area but…

Deals with the use of the "lie detector" or "polygraphic test" as a method of detecting deception in industries and law enforcement agencies. Explains what the polygraph is and how it operates. Presents a series of specific arguments for and against the validity of the instrument. Research appears to be inconclusive. (Author/ABB)