The present study, based on the work of Dweck (2000) and her description of helpless and mastery-orientated children, was designed to find a new, simple and economic way of assessing helplessness while testing a child's intelligence. Two hundred and thirty-two Austrian grammar-school children, previously classified as either helpless or…

One hundred and fifty-five students (average age, 10 years 7 months) were initially tested on reading, arithmetic, and academic self-perception. One year later they were tested again. Initial academic scores accounted for a large proportion of the variance in later academic scores. The children's self-perceptions of academic competence accounted…

Recent advances in testing mediation have found that certain resampling methods and tests based on the mathematical distribution of 2 normal random variables substantially outperform the traditional "z" test. However, these studies have primarily focused only on models with a single mediator and 2 component paths. To address this limitation, a…

The government's plans for students in KS2 and KS3 to be "tested when ready" mark an attempt further to embed instrumentalist views of education. "Testing-when-ready" is seen as an intensification of the harmful regime of testing, targets and League Tables which Mansell (2007) labels "hyper-accountability". Highlighting aspects of Mansell's book…

Objective: One suspected source of negative outcomes associated with ADHD has been deficits in executive functions. Although both psychometrically defined and self-reported executive function deficits (EFDs) have been shown to be associated with poor academic and occupational outcomes, whether these two approaches define the same individuals…

Education policy in many countries has undergone changes regarding the testing of English Language Learners (ELLs), who by definition are not yet proficient in the language of the test. As policies mandate the inclusion of ELLs in large-scale testing, many question the validity of achievement test scores because the degree to which the test score…

In this paper, data obtained from a university website accessibility and usability validation process are analyzed and used to demonstrate how the design process can affect the online experience for users with disabilities. Interviews, observations, and use data (e.g. where users clicked on a page or what path taken through a site) were collected.…

Computer-assisted testing (CAT) in counseling and therapy is becoming increasingly common due to dramatic improvements in cost-effectiveness and increased counselor familiarity with computer applications. The assumption underlying the use of CAT is that the effectiveness of counseling is improved by allocating repetitive computational and…

Supplemental or peripheral responses by test takers are seldom used by examiners, but in this study a program introduced by Thomas Edison State College (New Jersey) to allow the examined student to provide feedback to the testers and graders was studied. Student comment forms were designed to enable the student to identify problems with the test…

A pictorial-rating-scale sociometric instrument was administered to 91 middle-socioeconomic status first- and third-grade children two times, four weeks apart under two conditions, using a three-step and a five-step rating scale. No significant overall differences in reliability was found between the three-step and the five-step scale. However, in…

Scotland, like many countries, has a system of externally-administered syllabus-based examinations, set at two points: the end of compulsory schooling, which serves as a basis for entry to junior college "non-advanced further education" (mainly vocationally oriented); and at the end of grade 12, which serves as a basis for admission to…

First-, second-, and third-year students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology class at Texas A&M University in College Station were administered either a pencil-and-paper or computerized version of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. The same or other version of the test was administered after 2 weeks. Focus is on equivalence…

A critical position paper on research on many types of tests and the history of the testing movement is presented. The report, "A Nation at Risk" receives particular criticism. Although the accountability of teachers, schools, and educational administrators is seen as necessary, it is argued that a means of insuring accountability has…

Tests to assess problem-solving ability being provided for the Air Force are described, and some details on the development and validation of these computer-administered diagnostic achievement tests are discussed. Three measurement approaches were employed: (1) sequential problem solving; (2) context-free assessment of fundamental skills and…

This paper presents two examples of how methodological research in testing and evaluation simultaneously served the needs of both researchers and practitioners. The first example focuses on Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) research in writing assessment. This research investigated issues in domain definition, cognitive processing…