This Research Memo is for test users, teachers, administrators, counselors, curriculum specialists, school board members, and legislators who use tests as a means for improving education. The purpose of this report is to provide general background information about measurement and testing. The information includes discussions of the meaning…

Three kinds of classificatory decisions that might be made using criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are described, and methods to appraise the validity of each are subsequently discussed. Decisions that entail predictive, descriptive, and evaluative classifications comprised the three kinds of decisions described. Predictive classifications entail…

This study compares test battery results through carefully planned analysis of actual Title I evaluation data. The goal of the study is to derive practical recommendations regarding the results of commonly used test batteries which would be helpful at the local level. A criticism of the comparability assumption underlying the Title I evaluation…

Standardized test scores (STS) should be used on a local level: (1) as one component of evaluation of a student, school, or district; (2) to draw as much interpretive meaning from a norm-referenced test (NRT) as their structure will support; (3) as a communication device with students, parents, the public, and professional staff; (4) to check…

This booklet addresses the role of testing in today's public education system, and presents a series of questions and answers which will be of particular interest to school board members, legislators, lawyers and journalists. These questions are grouped into two major categories: (1) test purposes and users; and (2) current testing issues. Current…

The study examined the ability of Kaufman's (1979) profile analysis procedure with the WISC-R (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised) to discriminate learning disabled (LD) from non-LD children. A discriminant analysis of data on 279 children resulted in low classification accuracy, suggesting limited diagnostic utility of Kaufman's…

Reviews literature on the use of content validity to establish the job-relatedness of assessment centers. Attempts to show that content validity requires more than the careful construction of stimulus materials, how these stimulus materials are presented to candidates and how responses to these stimuli are evaluated are also critical…

Investigated utility estimate variability for the selection utility of using the Programmer Aptitude Test to select computer programmers. Comparison of Monte Carlo results to other risk assessment approaches (sensitivity analysis, break-even analysis, algebraic derivation of the distribtion) suggests that distribution information provided by Monte…

This article describes how three Utah school districts employed tests, specifically National Teacher Examinations, as one line of optional evidence for use (along with a selection of other evidence) in the promotion of eligible teachers. (Author/LMO)

Contains a test for assessing counselors' knowledge of the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) "Ethical Standards for School Counselors." This self-examination is intended to help counselors increase their levels of awareness and understanding of the standards and become more competent and comfortable in making ethical decisions. (ABB)

A study of the use of General Educational Development (GED) Test scores for community college English and reading course placement found that the scores were adequate enough predictors of success to be used for that purpose, eliminating the need for additional costly testing. (MSE)

Developed Question Classification Scale (QCS) to permit more discrimination among types of questions used in marriage and family therapy. Database for development consisted of 503 family therapy questions drawn from tapes of family therapy experts and trainees. Each therapist-initiated question was coded in four ways, yielding a simple,…

The use of postadmission tests of writing proficiency in some Ontario universities, intended to identify students likely to encounter academic problems, is criticized for unsound assumptions and difficulties in some testing procedures that cast doubt on whether test objectives are being met. (MSE)

A test of paralinguistic features of English that can be observed by listening is recommended for testing listening comprehension, especially at the advanced level, in students of English as a second language. (MSE)

Reports on what started out to be a survey of the use of the informal reading inventory (IRI) by teachers that revealed the technique to be embedded in a complex environment. Concludes that the use of IRIs and other diagnostic methods can be limited when teachers do not have primary responsibility for making placement decisions. (FL)