A statistical framework for investigating various regression approaches to linear composites is presented in this monograph. The consequences of variance approaches for psychometric theory are discussed. (A six-page bibliography is appended). (JKS)

The approximate degrees of freedom Welch-James (WJ) and Brown-Forsythe (BF) procedures for testing within-subjects effects in multivariate groups by trials repeated measures designs were investigated under departures from covariance homogeneity and normality. Empirical Type I error and power rates were obtained for least-squares estimators and…

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate and improve the rating procedure proposed for use in a research effort designed to assess the essay writing ability of college sophomores. Generalizability theory and the Many-Facet Rasch Model were each used to (a) estimate potential sources of error in the rating, (b) to obtain reliability estimates, and…

This study set out to empirically determine the reliability and validity of the Vocabulary Levels Tests, both the passive and productive versions. Furthermore, attempt was made to investigate the nature of the students' vocabulary knowledge with regard to their passive and active knowledge of the L2 words as a whole and at different word frequency…

The "Social-Communication Assessment Tool" (S-CAT) was created as a direct observation instrument to quantify specific social and communication deficits of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within educational settings. In this pilot study, the instrument's content validity and interrater reliability were investigated to determine the…

The various methods for computing the reliability of scores on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations are summarized. For the free response portion of the examinations, raters can contribute to score unreliability through both systematic severity errors (in which some raters consistently rate more severely than other raters) and through…

This paper argues that special procedures for constructing assessment tools containing performance assessment tasks are unnecessary and that current test methodology can easily be generalized to complex performance assessment tasks without destroying the desirable characteristics of those tasks. Reasonable statistical requirements for sound…

This text was written to help the reader acquire a base of knowledge about classical psychometrics and to integrate new ideas into that framework of knowledge. The material is organized into five units: (1) introduction to measurement theory; (2) reliability; (3) validity; (4) item analysis in test development; and (5) test scoring and…

Two methods of item selection were used to select sets of 40 items from a 50-item verbal analogies test, and the resulting item sets were compared for relative efficiency. The BICAL program was used to select the 40 items having the best mean square fit to the one parameter logistic (Rasch) model. The LOGIST program was used to select the 40 items…

This final report presents a description of a test combining cloze procedure and an entropy analysis (CLOZENTROPY), designed to measure the compatibility of a foreign student's English with that of his peers who are native speakers of English. This test, and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were administered to 48 foreign students…

A novel scoring procedure was investigated in order to obtain scores from a conventional multiple-choice test that would be free of the guessing component or contain a known guessing component even though examinees were permitted to guess at will. Scores computed with the experimental procedure are based not only on the number of items answered…

Responses on both the state and trait scales of the State-Trait Anxiety (STAI) Inventory were examined under two conditions. The first condition presented a simulated real-life situation containing competitive and evaluative cues without directly suggesting faking and asked subjects to complete the STAI. After an intervening task, the STAI was…

Performance testing often entails the usage of expensive, time-consuming measures in the quest for determining the level of performance on some desired behavior. It is concluded that a generalizability theory approach to dealing with departures from reality in testing can aid in the establishment of empirically-based choices of measurement…

The effectiveness of test adaptation based on item selection and reordering of a Spanish (Mexican) version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) was examined. Translated forms were administered to a sample of Mexican students. One item from each pair (A and B) was selected and reordered using a priori rules. The revised instrument was…

The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a self-rating scale which can be easily administered and quickly scored for discriminating between those high school students who will dropout and those who will not. A 34-item scale was constructed for subjects with a fifth grade reading level. This scale was administered to 113 high school…