This report explores an approach to item development and psychometric modeling which explicitly incorporates knowledge about the mental models used by examinees in the solution of items into a psychometric model that characterize performances on a test, as well as incorporating that knowledge into the item development process. The paper focuses on…

The AAMD-Becker Reading-Free Vocational Interest Inventory is a non-reading vocational preference test for use with mentally retarded persons, particularly the educable mentally retarded at the high school level. Illustrations having occupational significance are presented in forced-choice format for selections. The instrument helps to identify…

Twenty children (10 from a Day Care Center and 10 from a Head Start Center) were administered a 28-item, parallel form language comprehension task. The method utilized concrete materials (i.e., puppets and other familiar objects, spoon, flower, ball) which subjects manipulated when presented with sentences of 7 different grammatical constructions.…

The purpose of this study was to compare two instruments for screening preschool children for potential learning problems. The two instruments used were the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and the Wizard of Oz Preschool Preliminary Screening Program. The children tested on both measures were members of a self-contained kindergarten class. MRT…

The Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CCFIT) was administered to a large sample of American, Nigerian, and Indian adolescents, and item data were examined for cultural bias. The CCFIT was designed to measure fluid intelligence, which is not influenced by cultural differences. Four different item analysis techniques were used to determine…

This paper presents the development of the Arabic Picture Vocabulary Test (APVT), derived from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, for use in assessing the aural-vocabulary of newly arrived limited English proficiency children, from kindergarten through grade three, whose first language is Arabic. The APVT, an individually administered…

The theoretical framework and cross-cultural validation of Tell-Me-A-Story (TEMAS), a projective test developed to measure personality development in ethnic minority children, is presented. The TEMAS test consists of 23 chromatic pictures which incorporate the following characteristics: (1) representation of antithetical concepts which the…

Each of the four Cultural Attitude Scales (CAS) contains fifteen graphic illustrations of the dress, sports, food and popular symbols for the Anglo American, Black American, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican cultures, respectively. Designed to measure ethnic identity or cross-cultural awareness for grades one to six, they do not require reading…

Five scales designed to measure the attitudes of young children toward arithmetic, reading, and art were developed. Two of the scales (Picture and Forced Choice) were ipsative in nature; the remaining three (Millimeter, Box, and Semantic Differential) allowed the child to express a more absolute attitude about each activity. The scales were…

Categorizing Teacher Behavior, developed to measure acquisition of concepts portrayed in the Concepts and Patterns in Teacher-Pupil Interaction film series, measures the ability to identify and categorize instances of the specificed concepts as they are portrayed in reasonably complex filmed classroom interactions. The film series itself is based…

Mental health clinical services research has emphasized the urgency of developing new psychometric instruments for non-biased psychological assessment of minority and non-minority children of diverse cultural groups in the United States. Background multicultural standardization and validation information is presented for Tell-Me-A-Story (TEMAS)--a…

The rationale and development of a new series of motion picture tests of perceptual abilities of young children are described, and preliminary data regarding their reliability and validity are presented. The data suggests that the film tests are promising new perceptual measurement instruments. (MS)

Adolescents, ages 11-12 and 13-14, were tested for maturity of judgment about stability-change situations and about time perspective. (CP)

This paper describes the development and use of the Casey-Monahan Screening Instrument, designed to assess kindergarten readiness. The instrument consisted of various tests and evaluation procedures chosen from previously published tests. The instrument was designed to measure ability in five areas: (1) motor integration and motor development, (2)…

A paired-comparisons measure of distributive justice development, the Distributive Justice Scale (DJS), was developed and validated in four studies. Pictures were drawn to represent the different stages of distributive justice for a given dilemma and the DJS was scored by selecting the child's preferred stage via the picture comparisons for each…