Reports on a study that uses a range of analysis techniques to present validity evidence and to explore the equivalence of two revised and expanded versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. (Author/VWL)

Presents a normative typology for classifying the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) factor index profiles according to profile shape. Current analyses indicate that overall profile level accounted for a majority of the variance in WISC-III index scores, but a considerable proportion of the variance was because of…

Tested claims by Lucy (1992a, 1992b) that differences between the number marking systems used by Yucatec Maya and English lead speakers of these languages to differentially attend to either the material composition or the shape of objects. Replicated Lucy's critical objects' classification experiments using speakers of English and Japanese.…

Describes the American Psychological Association's (APA's) development of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications, explaining the APA's purpose in developing guidelines for the use of psychological tests. Highlights the historical background, the scope of the guidelines, generic knowledge and skills considered important for good test use, and…

Explores the basis of negative sentiments toward high-stakes student testing and current critiques of the practice from within the education profession. Provides evidence for 10 unintended, unrecognized, or unarticulated positive consequences. Also examines the relationship between high-stakes testing and accountability systems. (Author/SLD)

Registered nurses (n=368) participated in a skills recredentialing program in which competencies were assessed by a knowledge test and performance test under simulated conditions and evaluator ratings in actual patient-care situations. No significant differences in results between the simulated and actual conditions support the validity of the…

Assessed the interrater reliability of the revised Advanced Psychodiagnostic Interpretation (API) (A. Raphael and C. Golden, 1998) scoring system for the Bender Gestalt Test (L. Bender, 1938). Agreement across nine raters exceeded 90% for each of three clinical protocols, and kappa statistics indicated good interrater reliability. (SLD)

Discusses usability as an interface design concept to improve information retrieval on the World Wide Web. Highlights include criteria for a usable Web site; usability testing; usability resources on the Web; and a sidebar that gives an example of usability testing by Hewlett-Packard. (LRW)

Addresses ethical issues regarding Internet career assessment: reliability, validity, user readiness, administration, lack of practitioner awareness, equitable access, confidentiality, and privacy. Makes recommendations in the areas of research and development, training, standards, and stable funding of assessment development. (SK)

Proposes the use of statistical power subsequent to the results of hypothesis testing in business research. Describes how posttest use of power might be integrated into business statistics courses. (SK)

Contends that Multiple Subjects Assessment for Teachers is not aligned with essential elementary-level teaching functions, thus preventing many otherwise qualified persons from teaching. Describes some individual test-taking experiences in California. Recommends changes in prospective elementary teacher assessment practices. (PKP)

Barbara Thayer-Bacon (1999) objects to the minimum proficiency examinations that are mandated for school students in Ohio. Similar tests are required by, or are under consideration by, governments in many other parts of the world. Various writers have objected to one or other of these tests by arguing that they are crude, invalid, unreliable,…

Sidman's (2000) theory regarding the origin of equivalence relations predicts that a reinforcing stimulus common to distinct equivalence classes must drop out of the equivalence relations. This prediction was tested in the present study by arranging class-specific reinforcers, R1 and R2, following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional…

In this response to Pinker and Jackendoff's critique, we extend our previous framework for discussion of language evolution, clarifying certain distinctions and elaborating on a number of points. In the first half of the paper, we reiterate that profitable research into the biology and evolution of language requires fractionation of ''language''…

A conventional way to analyze item responses in multiple tests is to apply unidimensional item response models separately, one test at a time. This unidimensional approach, which ignores the correlations between latent traits, yields imprecise measures when tests are short. To resolve this problem, one can use multidimensional item response models…