This guidebook puts testing in proper perspective as one aspect of evaluation and leads the test user through a practical discussion about selecting and developing valid, reliable tests. Its primary purpose is to assist classroom teachers, reading consultants, and school administrators in making decisions about measuring student reading…

Item-test correlations are compared to item test-retest correlations as measures for selecting items in test construction. The author concludes that the item test-retest method is superior for item analysis which aims at getting shorter tests while maintaining test stability. (Author/JKS)

Reviews literature on the use of content validity to establish the job-relatedness of assessment centers. Attempts to show that content validity requires more than the careful construction of stimulus materials, how these stimulus materials are presented to candidates and how responses to these stimuli are evaluated are also critical…

Surveyed counselors (n=672) about extent to which they incorporate basic principles of good testing practices in work and whether practices are learned in preservice education, in service training, or from reading ethical standards/guidelines. Found that many counselors engaged in good test use practices, adhering to many important test-use…

States that to demonstrate that a test is not biased for any given use, it is sufficient to show that it is equally valid for different groups. Although an examination of criterion-related validity can indicate bias, it is not ordinarily sufficient to indicate lack of bias, for which explorations of its construct validity regardless of use are…

Four conceptually different variables in reading: (1) knowledge gained (new information), (2) amount comprehended (degree of understanding), (3) reading aptitude (differences between individuals), and (4) reading improvement (within individual changes as a result of treatment) are discussed. Existing measures of reading comprehension are evaluated…

The testing manual for middle and secondary schools of the School City of Gary is provided. The manual is divided into five parts: (1) rationale of the citywide testing program--selection and classification decisions, evaluation of treatments and verification of hypotheses, selection of tests, and general testing principles; (2) preparation for…

This speech discusses performance contracting as educational research, notes some evaluation problems, and proposes solutions to these problems. The term performance contracting, according to the report, denotes an administrative rather than an instructional innovation. The author observes that the understanding of instruction and learning derived…

The discussion on criterion-referenced (CRT) and norm-referenced achievement tests (NRT) is divided into two parts: definitions and use. The authors contrast CRTs, tests which compare an individual's performance to some specified behavioral criterion of proficiency, and NRTs, tests which compare an individual's score to scores of others. They also…

This manual sets forth comprehension guidelines and procedures for selecting instruments to measure educational growth, achievement, and outcomes. The necessary criteria are presented in a checklist format, permitting local district personnel to evaluate the worth of testing instruments before adoption. A subset of the criteria are defined as…

The history and development of city-wide testing programs in Chicago since 1936 are reviewed and placed in context with the impact on testing of Sputnik and the passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Current testing problems include the time lag between events and curricular changes and new test construction, the time lag between…

A list of 11 important characteristics of interest inventories is presented. Comparisons between interest inventories are difficult to make, and those responsible for making choices between inventories must be well-informed about the entire system. Therefore, the points are discussed in the order that a system is developed--from the item pool,…

The final volume in the report on the Research and Development Project in Career Education is in two parts. The first, "Interest Inventories, Tests, Surveys, and Scales: A Compilation," is by James T. Jurgens. It is designed to acquaint teachers and counselors with 66 interest measurement instruments that are presently on the market. For most,…

This study was concerned with determining the validity of the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (S-B), Form L-M as the validity criterion. The sample consisted of 724 students enrolled in 10 public school systems in northeastern Massachusetts. Using the Pearson-Product Moment formula a coefficient of…