A survey of 285 assessment personnel in Texas indicated that most assessment personnel do not believe themselves adequately prepared to conduct assessments of students with severe disabilities and desired additional training. Further, a higher percentage of those assessment personnel with training perceived themselves to have the competency than…

An administrator criticizes the Warnock Report and the British Education Act of 1981 for provisions regarding assessment which, he suggests, undermine an interdisciplinary approach and risk divided responsibility. He recommends an inconspicuous approach to testing used at his school. (CL)

Confusion is cited regarding the meaning and nature of central auditory dysfunction, and types of tests composing a central auditory test battery are described. Tests focus on auditory closure, auditory figure-ground, and dichotic listening. (CL)

Grade equivalent scores and standard scores for 32 elementary learning disabled were compared and yielded significant correlations. Mean grade equivalent scores did, however, significantly differ for the two reading measures but not when standard scores were used. The two math indices yielded nonsignificant grade equivalent scores. (Author/CL)

Twenty-eight profoundly deaf students, aged eight to 11, did not recall spatial order of viewed pictures better than temporal order, were not less competent in probed recognition than 66 age-equivalent hearing students, and made fewer recognitions in temporal-probe than in spatial-probe conditions. Other results were found. (Author/MC)

Relationships between cheating and distracting study conditions are studied in light of the premise that if an individual is frustrated in his attempts to learn he will be more likely to cheat. (MM)

Reported are results of a survey undertaken to investigate students' preferences on the spacing of final honours exams, as a preliminary to the commissioning of a computer-designed exam timetable. (Author)

Changes in the full scale reliability of the WISC-R were computed at three age levels when each subtest was omitted by itself. The same procedure was followed with those subtests which independently had the smallest effect in lowering full scale reliability. Cautions were noted concerning the exclusion of subtests. (Author)

This digest discusses the simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), a performance-based, tape-mediated speaking test. The SOPI follows the general structure of the oral proficiency interview (OPI) used by government agencies and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to measure speaking proficiency. Whereas the OPI is…

This paper reports on a study to see whether girls in middle school who took tests separately from boys did better than when they were tested together. A mathematics attitude and anxiety instrument was administered as part of the study to determine if either had any effect on test performance. Results indicate that boys were more anxious than…

There is variability in the estimation of an equating transformation because common-item parameters are obtained from responses of samples of examinees. The most commonly used standard error of equating quantifies this source of sampling error, which decreases as the sample size of examinees used to derive the transformation increases. In a…

This inaugural volume of our Spotlight Series features recent "Harvard Education Letter" articles on testing and new reports never before published on this important topic. Contributors address such issues as how educators can manage the "avalanche" of tests; whether the benefits of high-stakes tests justify the risks to…

The purpose of this study was to review the spectrum of musico-aesthetic attitude tests by categorizing several according to their approach and the attributes they attempt to measure. (Author)

A sample of 162 fifth grade students were grouped as good, average, and poor readers on the basis of a standardized reading test to determine whether a relationship existed between binocularity and reading performance. (Author/MC)