Four purposes of testing (screening, classification, program planning, and program evaluation) are identified, and tests are futher broken down into type, methods of scoring, and methods of administration. The author emphasizes that tests should be selected to accomplish the purposes of testing. (CL)

The proportion of agreement, G, and kappa indexes are shown to differ in how they correct for chance agreements between two observers. On the basis of the findings, it is suggested that no single agreement index is appropriate for all sets of data. (Author/BW)

A specified minimum performance level can be translated into a minimum passing score for the written test by measuring the performance of students whose written test scores are near the desired cutoff score. Stochastic approximation methods accomplish this purpose. The up-and-down method and the Robbins-Monro process are compared. (Author/RL)

Tested the discrimination of the MMPI Beall-Panton escape index by applying it to a sample of minimum security incarcerated female felons. The index did not differentiate significantly between escapees and nonescapees. Differentiation between the groups did occur when MMPI clinical and validity scales were considered separately. (Author)

Presents an activity which encourages hypothesis testing and introduces the study of prehistorical and historical societies. Students formulate a hypothesis about an artifact; then the teacher gradually introduces more information. Students refine their hypotheses and test them against what the artifact was used for. (KC)

Reluctance to use group mean as the unit of analysis is partly due to the belief that fewer observations per treatment greatly reduces the probability of detecting a treatment effect. This is discussed; equations are presented to facilitate power estimates when the group mean is the unit of analysis. (Author/BW)

Reports a new technique for assessing conservation of liquid quantity using sealed bottles. When used with a sample of 40 six- and seven-year-olds, results correlated strongly with those of the traditional Piagetian task involving pouring. (SJL)

The Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) is presented as an approach to the production and measurement of cognitive change. The paper presents three empirical studies illustrating how the LPAD may be applied in solving practical problems with important educational and social implications for teaching handicapped or disadvantaged students.…

Offers a brief report on the National Assessment of Educational Progress conference on minimum competency testing. Among the reports was one asserting a logical relationship between student competency testing and teacher competency testing, and one noting that no research evidence shows that mandated student competency testing programs are…

Thirty five-year-olds were given number conservation tasks within their subitising and their counting ranges. For the experimental group, counters were joined by threads. These children's superior performance suggests that, when such one-to-one correspondence is a salient clue, young children can effectively apply the principle of invariance.…

The problems of standardized testing are considered, and the efforts of New York State legislators to change current practices in test usage are recounted. (LH)

The squared multiple correlation of a variable with the remaining variables in a variable set is shown to be a function of the communalities and the squared canonical correlations between the observed variables and common factors. (Author/JKS)

The problem addressed is of assessing the loss of power which results from keeping the probability that at least one Type I error will occur in a family of N statistical tests at a tolerably low level. (Author/BW)

Fisher's exact probability test is severely conservative when interpreted with reference to conventional alpha levels due to the discontinuity of the sampling distribution for 2 x 2 tables. An adjustment of the cell frequencies is proposed that results in a correction for continuity with appropriate alpha protection and increased power. (Author)

Repeating validation procedures used for the Children's Group Embedded Figures Test Level II (ages 9-11), this Level I test of cognitive style was administered to a second grade sample. It proved reliable and significantly related to the individual Children's Embedded Figures Test and the Portable Rod-and-Frame Test. (Author/SJL)