This study examined psychometric properties and usefulness of the Evaluation and Programming System: Assessment Level I (EPS-I) by analyzing validity, reliability, and utility data from 335 nonhandicapped, at-risk, and handicapped infants and young children. Outcomes portrayed EPS-I as a valid, reliable, and helpful instrument for developing and…

The Employability Maturity Interview (EMI) is a 10-item structured interview developed to assess readiness for the vocational rehabilitation planning process and the need for additional vocational exploration and employability services. The items deal with occupational choice, self-appraisal of abilities, self-appraisal of personality…

The Work Performance Assessment (WPA) is a brief work simulation designed to evaluate job maintenance skills, emphasizing work-related social/interpersonal skills rather than specific vocational skills. The WPA uses three work samples involving sorting of food service items to measure 19 common work demands in four categories: responding to…

Extensive research efforts in the past decade have measured academic proficiency and progress in both theory and practice of large-scale writing assessment. The following major situational variables were identified in these investigations: (1) topic variables such as writing prompts, subject matter, mode of discourse, length, and rhetorical…

This manual summarizes technical information regarding the 1982 Stanford Achievement Test, Seventh Edition when administered to hearing-impaired students. In Section 1, the procedures used to select the norming sample (7,557 hearing-impaired students) are described, and the demographic characteristics of the resulting sample are compared to those…

This report outlines the stages of development and validation of the Attitude Toward the Subject Science Scale (ATSSS). The instrument, developed in accordance with the Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) theory of attitude assessment, can be used by junior secondary science teachers or administrators to assess student attitudes toward the subject science…

The evaluation tools written by teachers are rarely valid or reliable. One teaching aid that can help in the creation of an effective evaluation instrument is called a test map. A test map is a systematic method to consider variables that are important in the construction of the format of a test. Five variables that are discussed in the test…

The Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) (Hiskey, 1966) has been regarded by reviewers as one of the best instruments for assessing the learning abilities of hearing-impaired children. However, there has been a paucity of research on the validity of this test. Further, there is no established test-retest reliability, and questions…

Interest in and use of the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment's (SOMPA's) Health History Inventories (HHI) has been intensive despite the unavailability of psychometric data estimating its stability. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study designed to provide data on the stability of the HHI over a four year period. The…

The New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is designed to measure certain basic language and mathematics skills of students entering New Jersey colleges. The primary purpose of the two mathematics sections is to determine whether students are prepared to begin certain college-level work without a handicap in computation or…

This paper provides principles which can be used to mark mathematics papers in secondary schools. Sections included are: (1) "Drafting the Marking Scheme" (describing 15 general considerations); (2) "Calculations" (listing 16 grading principles on computation papers); (3) "Graphs" (providing four guidelines on graph papers); (4) "Constructions"…

Describes the use of the Apple Macintosh and MULTIPLAN spreadsheet to record and analyze test data. Provides step-by-step instructions on data entry, item difficulty and discrimination calculations, test reliability, score distribution, and graphing of distributions. (JM)

Underlying concepts and current issues in communicative testing are described, and several promising approaches to developing communicative tests are outlined. It is suggested that appropriate testing is likely to have dramatic effects on the format and content of foreign language curricula and on student motivation because of increased relevance.…

Outlines the benefits associated with true-false and multiple-choice tests and sets forth rules for writing effective items for such tests. (FL)

Advises principals about their responsibilities concerning the educational assessment of handicapped students. Discusses the scope of assessment, test validity and reliability, commonly used tests, assessment issues, and specific actions principals can take. (Author/WD)