Microcomputer versions of three commonly used cognitive style measurement instruments are described and demonstrated: the Leveling-Sharpening House Test (LSHT) (Santostefano, 1964); Lowenfeld's Successive Impressions Test I (SIT-I) (1945); and the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) (Witkin, Oltman, Ruskin, and Karp, 1971). At present, many…

The Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development has become widely used in a range of academic disciplines and such areas as career training and faculty consultation. However, current measurement techniques for the scheme, whether interview format or paper and pencil measures, do not adequately address issues related to assessing cognitive…

Changing perspectives in educational intelligence testing are traced from a genetically deficient model to a culturally disadvantaged or deprived model to a culturally different model. It is argued that if comparisons are to be made between people, they should be made within the context of the cultural and socioeconomic group structure of each…

The purpose of this book is to make it possible for measurement specialists to solve practical testing problems through the use of item response theory (IRT). The topics, organization, and presentation are those used in a 4-week seminar held each summer for the past several years. The material is organized to facilitate understanding; all related…

Computerized adaptive tests (CATs) make it possible to estimate the ability of each student during the testing process. The computer presents items to students at the appropriate level, and students take different versions of the same test. Computerized testing increases the flexibility of test management in that: (1) tests are given on demand and…

Problems related to the study of second language learners are described, and the factors affecting language development are discussed. Factors influential in second language learning include psychological, sociological, and affective aspects. Similarly, the measurement of language has been influenced by linguistic, psychological, and social…

This study examined efficacy of different story collection procedures with normally developing (N=10) and language disordered (N=6) preschool children. Factor analyses probed such possible interfering factors as home vs. school environments, familiarity of the story requester, coaxing cues, stimulus structure, and presence of such props as dolls…

Public concern about substance abuse, fueled by political and media attention, is causing school administrators to consider a variety of approaches beyond traditional drug education. No procedures, methods, or rules regarding drug testing should be established in the absence of clear school board policy, and no policy decisions should be made…

Factor analysis is the traditional method for studying the dimensionality of test data. However, under common conditions, the factor analysis of tetrachoric correlations does not recover the underlying structure of dichotomous data. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the factor analyses of tetrachoric correlations is unlikely to…

Information on statistical detection of two different kinds of unethical activity associated with standardized testing is presented. The first is advance presentation of specific test items or excessive coaching using items very similar to those on a test. Cluster analysis is recommended for detection of aberrant vectors of percentages correct on…

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), one of the most commonly used tests of cognitive ability, is difficult to administer accurately. The purpose of this study was primarily to assess interrater agreement on the WISC-R Administration Observational Checklist (WAOC), a new observational instrument that can be used by an…

This study was designed to determine if the decline evidenced in the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores for mathematics is a true reflection of a decrease in students' mathematical ability, or is a result of the inadequacy of the test in measuring students' mathematical abilities. The data consisted of…

On July 8, 9 and 10, 1981 the National Institute of Education (NIE) sponsored a "hearing" on minimum competency testing (MCT). The hearing, which was to clarify issues related to MCT, was modeled after adversarial and judicial evaluation approaches. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory was responsible for the overall evaluation…

Major efforts of this project fall into four categories: (1) investigations were performed on the relationship between the dimensionality of a dataset and its underlying cognitive processes; (2) two approaches for diagnosing erroneous rules of operation were developed (an "error vector" system for constructing error diagnostic programs…

Standardized tests represent one way of obtaining assessment information. Yet in recent years educators and the public have voiced concerns about an overriding emphasis on tests and test scores. Pressure to "teach to the test" means that not enough time is spent on higher order thinking and literacy skills because minimal competencies…