It is shown that empirical mental test P - P plots are approximately equal to theoretical item-item curves, at least for long tests administered to many people. This result is important because it leads to (1) a distribution free method for estimating points on item-item curves; (2) a general method for defining estimates of item parameters; and…

THE VALIDITY OF AN EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST DEPENDS UPON THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SPECIFIED EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THESE OBJECTIVES ARE MEASURED BY THE EVALUATION INSTRUMENT. THIS STUDY IS DESIGNED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF STATISTICAL ITEM SELECTION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE FINAL EVALUATION INSTRUMENT AS COMPARED WITH…

THIS STUDY WAS PHASE 1 OF A 2-PHASE PROJECT DESIGNED TO CHANGE TEACHER BEHAVIOR WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF IMPROVED CLASSROOM UTILIZATION OF NEW INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA. PHASE 1 TRIED TO INCREASE TEACHER KNOWLEDGE OF MEDIA VIA A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER, "THE CIRCULATOR," DISTRIBUTED IN 5 DISSEMINATION PATTERNS TO 2,200 EDUCATORS IN PENNSYLVANIA. A…

A computer program named Program STANDARD is presented and demonstrated. This program calculates the statistical significance of the overall agreement of the categorical assignments. The program is based on Light's statistic, G, for describing the conjoint agreement of many observers with correct or standard set of classifications on nominal…

This paper describes the proposed Assessment Center at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. The center is intended to provide statistical and technical support for the Mercy College elementary education, special education, and speech and hearing departments in the areas of student assessment, student guidance, and program evaluation. Evaluation…

The reliability of a criterion referenced test was defined as a measure of the degree to which the test discriminates between an individual's level of performance and a predetermined criterion level. The variances of observed and true scores were defined as the squared deviation of the score from the criterion. Based on these definitions and the…

The purpose of this investigation was to establish the effects of repeaters on test equating. Since consideration was not given to repeaters in test equating, such as in the derivation of equations by Angoff (1971), the hypothetical effect needed to be established. A case study was examined which showed results on a test as expected; overall mean…

Subjects are asked to answer six questions, partly with a frequency and partly by marking a verbally anchored scale with five categories. Some univariate and multivariate analyses are performed to elucidate the relations between variables with the two different modes of response. Although there are similarities in results for the two types of…

The concept of scaled achievement tests is discussed and a method of selecting those items of a test that form the most scalable (i.e., having the highest coefficient of reproducibility) subset is presented. Sometimes called a monotonic-deterministic model, this type of test assumes that the test items may be sequentially ordered. To determine the…

An attempt is made to explore the use of subjective probabilities in the analysis of item data, especially criterion-referenced item data. Two assumptions are implicit: (1) one wants to obtain a maximum amount of information with respect to an item using a minimum number of subjects; and (2) once the item is validated, it may well be administered…

Livingston's reliability coefficients and Harris' indices of efficiency were computed along with the classical internal consistency coefficients, KR-20's (Kuder-Richardson internal consistency coefficient), for 678 criterion-referenced tests in the A through E levels of an individualized mathematics program. The coefficients were carefully studied…

The Behavioral Objectives Writing Skills Test (BOWST) was designed to provide an estimate of the elementary teacher's ability to write behavioral objectives. This instrument, which requires the teacher to develop three behavioral objectives for each of four hypothetical classroom settings, has wide utility as a teacher-training tool. It may be…

The development and preliminary validation of an instrument to measure attitude toward school subjects (GRASS) is described. An item pool consisting of 30 items was generated and refined. A 23 Likert item scale was then administered to 893 eleventh and twelfth grade high schools Ss. A principal component analysis and obliquimax transformation…

Three topics in factor analysis are covered: a) a reliability coefficient for assessing the quality of a maximum likelihood factor analysis, b) an application of three-mode factor analysis to serial learning data, showing variations in learning curves over stages of learning and individuals, and c) the use of personal probability functions to…

Besides the ubiquitous Pearson product-moment r, there are a number of other measures of relationship that are attenuated by errors of measurement and for which the relationship between true measures can be estimated. Among these are the correlation ratio (eta squared), Kelley's unbiased correlation ratio (epsilon squared), Hays' omega squared,…