The longitudinal study of four normal children, 18 to 36 months old, and five Down's syndrome (DS) children, 3 to 6 years old, analyzed the development of stop consonants and stop clusters. Although similar sound patterns were observed for the two groups, the DS children showed considerable performance delay. (DB)

Prior to 1975, students in Chicago Public Schools were assigned grade level tests, a practice that in 1974 resulted in 42 percent of the students scoring at the equivalent of a "chance" level. In 1975, the schools switched to functioning level testing. The change caused lower average test scores, but the percentage of chance scores…

Goodness of fit tests for the Rasch model are typically large-sample, global measures. This paper offers suggestions for small-sample exploratory techniques for examining the fit of item data to the Rasch model. (Author/JKS)

The amount of testing in U.S. schools is substantial. A strong testing program is seen as one of the major factors in effective schools. The authority of a testing program can be enhanced by teacher involvement, specialists' endorsement, formal adoption by a school, and promotion by a principal. (NJ)

Compared the dream themes of terminally ill cancer patients (N=14) with the dream themes of aged persons (N=42). Death and aggression occurred significantly more often in the dreams of the dying. Death themes also frequently appeared as a projection upon other dream characters. (Author/JAC)

Eleven adults who had been diagnosed as dyslexic in childhood were evaluated via psychological and educational testing and interviews. Reading and spelling deficits were marked, and patterns of skill weaknesses and cognitive abilities were found to have remained remarkably consistent over the approximately 17-year period. (CL)

Studied whether posttraumtic stress disorders (PTSD) could be distinguished through use of videotaped mild combat stimuli. Results of anxiety measures showed that this assessment device clearly distinguished the PTSD Veterans from both veterans without combat exposure but who sought psychiatric help for other problems, and well adjusted veterans.…

Each potential user must take the final responsibility for deciding whether a test can deliver what it promises in the situation in which it is to be used. A review procedure involves reading and evaluating research, studying technical manuals, taking the test, and communicating with others involved with the test. (Author/CM)

The first of a series of quizzes on types of derived scores concerns interpreting grade-equivalent (GE) scores. The true-false items require a response about whether the stated interpretation of the GE score is sound. An answer key explains specific scoring methods. (CM)

New technologies, involving microelectronics, communications, and information science, are being used to simplify and mechanize traditional measurement techniques (including the enhancement of individual testing). (Author/PN)

Greater understanding of language and social forces constraining language performance has complicated the view of language as a code and the learner as an object to be conditioned. Serious questions arise, then, regarding effective testing of linguistic/communicative competence and the use of test results for educational decision making.…

Of 111 Detroit elementary school students who were examined on the Kraus-Weber Minimum Physical Fitness Test to determine the relationship between visual handicap and physical fitness, 95 percent of the normally sighted, 84 percent of the partially sighted, and 46 percent of the blind students passed the test. (Author/MC)

Administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Revised) and reading, mathematics, and written-language subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Test Battery to 28 regular education and learning disabled students. Except for correlations between form M and the reading and written-language subtests for the LD group, values did not…

Compared three tests of visual-motor integration: The Revised Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI-R), the Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), and the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BG). Results showed significantly higher BG age equivalent scores. Highly significant correlations were found among all variables. (WAS)

Morphological ability performance of 20 learning disabled (LD) and 20 normal seven- to eight-year-old boys on the Berry-Talbott Language Test of Comprehension of Grammar yielded the major findings that the LD boys did not differ significantly from normals on item categories ranked by difficulty level. (Author/MC)