A focus on test validity includes a consideration of the way a test measures that which it proposes to test; in other words, the validity of a test depends on method as well as content. This paper examines three areas of concern: (1) some features of communication that test method should reflect, (2) the main components of method, and (3) some…

This paper reports the results of a study in which the following issues were addressed: (1) whether there is a strong relationship between syntactic enhancement, as measured by Davidson's Test of Ability to Subordinate (TAS), and overall writing ability; (2) whether a subordination test has any predictive ability for attained writing proficiency;…

The Nairn report, The Reign of ETS, has charged that the major college admissions tests administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS) have undue influence on admissions to higher education, and that the tests have little value in predicting future academic performance. Nairn's claims that the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a poor predictor…

The American College Testing Program (ACT) developed tests as a result of the College Outcome Measures Project (COMP). These instruments were intended for evaluation of nontraditional and traditional postsecondary education programs. They measure skills rather than information. The study was designed to check on several aspects of use of the COMP…

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Rorschach test are frequently used in juvenile justice settings to assess current psychological functioning and to predict future behavior. The Exner Comprehensive System, which standardized the Rorschach, made possible a comparison of the Rorschach and the MMPI in an investigation of…

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether temperament differences exist between infants who completed a visual perceptual/cognitive experiment and those who did not. A total of 14 Caucasian infants ranging in age from 5-15 months participated in the study. The subjects were placed in one of two groups (completers vs. noncompleters)…

Two perspectives provide the theoretical framework for this study. The first provides confirmatory maximum likelihood estimates of factor loadings and factor intercorrelations; the second, and more important, provides statistical tests of hypotheses that factor structures and patterns of values are invariant for female and male adolescents. The…

The study involving 20 retarded adolescents and adults was designed to develop a rapid screening instrument predictive of a client's overall level of functioning. Using the Broome Functional Behavior Checklist, information was collected on each of the S's adaptive behaviors. The concept of using a subtest of items on a functional profile to make…

The central idea in building and maintaining an item bank is to calibrate all the items onto a "common variable." The arithmetic involved in the calibration process is presented. It is recommended that an analysis of fit be done in every application to verify that the estimates of item difficulties are in fact sample-free. These…

Fifty profiles of published tests of writing proficiency are compiled alphabetically with a thorough guide to indirect assessment of writing skill. The profiles are designed to facilitate a general screening of available test options. The elements included in each profile are as follows: test name, publication date, publisher, administration time,…

The study evaluated the effect of art therapy on the development of basic academic concepts with 84 handicapped children (ages 7 to 11 years). The children were given the Silver Test of Cognitive and Creative Skills which uses drawing tasks to assess the child's understanding of the concept of a class or group of objects, the concept of space, and…

Factor analysis can be a valuable tool for assessing validity; however, the reliabilities of identified factors must be attended to. This study examined the impacts of item variance on factor stability and structure. The attempt was to determine empirically whether unnumbered graphic scales scored using a larger number of scale steps produce more…

In the area of large scale assessment, there is increasing interest in the measurement of students' written performance. At issue is whether the task demands in writing assessment can be simplified to involve the production of paragraph-length writing samples and/or multiple choice testing, rather than full-length essays. This study considers data…

The problem engendered by the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Test is one of instrument integrity (II). II is delimited by validity, reliability, and utility of MFF as a measure of the reflective-impulsive construct. Validity, reliability and utility of construct assessment may be improved by utilizing: (1) a prototypic scoring model that will…

Empathy has been defined, operationalized, and assessed in many different ways. A study was conducted to determine whether selected empathy measures actually measured a similar construct when they were applied in interpersonal communication settings. The five measures chosen for analysis were those typically used by researchers to assess…