Isolated psychosocial variables having predictive value regarding enrollee length of stay in a Job Corps training center. The Stanford Achievement Test's paragraph-meaning subtest was a predictor to the dependent measure and paragraph meaning and the manifest-aggression subscale from the Jesness inventory formed the strongest set of multiple…

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is to have 100 percent of America's public school students "proficient" by the year 2014. As Rosenberg points out, however, there are multiple interpretations of proficiency, including: (1) Different methods of setting performance standards yield different meanings of proficient; (2)…

This book is designed to help mental health professionals acquire the knowledge and skills to use the Cognitive Abilities battery of the Woodcock-Johnson[TM] comprehensive assessment system (WJ III). The WJ III was recently divided into the Cognitive Abilities and the Achievement batteries. The chapters are: (1) "Overview"; (2) "How…

Latent trait models introduced the concept of the latent trait, or ability, as distinct from the test score. There is a recent tendency to treat the test score as through it were a substitute for ability, largely because the test score is a convenient way to place individuals in order. F. Samejima (1969) has shown that, in general, the amount of…

This fastback provides information about what tests can and cannot do, how they are constructed, and how they are used and misused. It offers suggestions about how best to interpret test results. The chapters are: (1) "A Test on Testing"; (2) "Basic Considerations"; (3) "Standardized Tests"; (4) "Performance Tests"; (5) "Interpreting Test Scores";…

In today's educational setting, assessment results weigh heavily in determining what students should know and be able to do. In addition, because assessment scores are often tied to accountability systems that affect both teaching and learning, they influence what is taught in the classroom. The changes in the use of assessments underscore the…

This chapter reviews the findings of a joint committee of the American School Counselor Association and the Association for Assessment in Counseling in the development of a document describing the assessment and evaluation competencies school counselors need. Among the skills universally considered important were making decisions about which…

The objectives of this paper are threefold. First, a model is proposed for unifying massive amounts of conceptual and numerical information flowing from the measures of the accountability movement in Ohio and the materials that are publicly available to educators. Second, this model is translated into useable forms of information that help…

This reference guide is designed to give educators and other interested persons a better understanding of the information contained in the score reports from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the key measuring stick of the state's school improvement strategy. To do this, the guide is organized around the four basic form types used in…

Rokeach's value survey and Maxhover's Figure Drawing Tests were administered to two groups of college students. Subjects were then given bogus personality profiles. They were equally likely to accept positive and negative personal evaluations irrespective of whether the tests on which they were purportedly based were scored and interpreted'' by a…

Two problems were considered for random-model, fully-crossed, two- and three-facet experimental designs. (Editor/RK)

The purposes of the present study were to compare the scores obtained by boys and girls on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) and to assess differences in their abilities on the tests that constitute these Scales. (Author/RK)

The purpose of this study was to summarize research relevant to the correction for guessing formula. Six areas are reviewed: reliability, validity, test taking behavior, statistical implications, public acceptance, scoring labor. (JB)

Out-of-level'' testing is the assigning of pupils to levels of a standardized test on the basis of previous test scores rather than their present grade assignment. Test results of 1500 children were reviewed to see if their performance supported the rationale behind the practice. (Author/CB)

Offered are suggestions for more effective interpretation of mental retardation to parents for trainees and professionals doing team evaluations in interdisciplinary settings. (Author/DB)