A practical approach is outlined for adapting teacher-made tests to meet the needs of mildly handicapped mainstreamed students. The approach calls for modifying test construction, test administration, and test sites, and teaching test-taking strategies. A table lists test-taking problems (poor comprehension, poor auditory or visual perception,…

Describes the complex and sometimes conflicting components involved in reading assessment issues and proposes a solution that involves linkages among assessment audiences and approaches. Concludes with remarks about how school districts might pull together all the pieces and solve the assessment puzzle for themselves. (PRA)

For 40 gifted students, the mean Full Scale score of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised was 13.52 points higher than the mean composite score of the Stanford-Binet, Fourth Edition (Binet-IV). Between the two instruments, 11 of 15 possible subscale correlations were significant. Use of the Binet-IV might result in placement of…

Discusses testing accommodations for students with disabilities and describes the Assessment Accommodation Checklist (AAC), designed to facilitate consistent documentation and implementation of testing accommodations with these students. Examines state guidelines concerning the use of accommodations and provides sample items from the AAC. (DB)

Describes the academic context in which the "French CAT" was created and trialed and gives a detailed consideration of the test presentation platform and operating algorithms. Finally, the article evaluates the first administration of the test and discusses its reliability and validity as a placement instrument for first-year Australian…

Explores recent developments in the use of computers in language testing in four areas: (1) item banking; (2) computer-assisted language testing; (3) computerized-adaptive language testing; and (4) research on the effectiveness of computers in language testing. Examines educational measurement literature in an attempt to forecast the directions…

Diagnostic testing in mathematics has become a favoured tool at many universities. In this paper we report on a novel method of diagnostic testing which incorporates a paired question approach, with two questions being set on each of 20 different topics. It was introduced at Loughborough University for use with first year engineering students in…

A meta-analysis in the form of Brinley plots was conducted on the mean reaction times of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Control groups of children and adolescents on the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT). ADHD reaction times were regressed on Control group reaction times for 17 data sets (accessed from 13 published studies).…

Why do creative teachers who want to help all their students learn in meaningful ways have to use high-pressure testing methods that work against that goal? The authors propose a system of testing that serves the need for evaluation while contributing to students' intellectual and social growth. (Contains 7 endnotes.)

This study examined the effects of testing accommodations on the mathematics and reading test scores of a sample of 119 fourth graders and 78 eighth graders. The sample included 49 fourth-grade students diagnosed with a disability and 39 eighth-grade students diagnosed with a disability. All students were tested under two conditions (i.e.,…

An order-analysis procedure, which uses graph theory to extract efficiently nonredundant, unidimensional chains of items from multidimensional data sets and chain consistency as a criterion for chain membership is outlined in this paper. The procedure is intended as an alternative to the Reynolds (1976) procedure which is described as being…

ANXIETY IN THE TESTING SITUATION ARISES OUT OF THE EVALUATIVE NATURE OF THE TESTING PROCEDURE. ANXIETY IS A FACTOR IN PERFORMANCE. THE STUDY INVOLVED 152 FIRST GRADES WITH IQ'S BETWEEN 100 AND 125. ALL SUBJECTS WERE GIVEN THE TEST ANXIETY SCALE FOR CHILDREN AND THE GENERAL ANXIETY SCALE FOR CHILDREN, AFTER WHICH THEY WERE DIVIDED INTO FOUR GROUPS.…

Five personality scales, developed without regard to theory, were administered to 96 high school students. The correlations of these scales with four standard measures of academic achievement were compared with personality-achievement correlations from previous studies that used personality scales derived theoretically. These latter correlations…