How to identify, assess and systematize reading skills for classroom use. (Editor)

This paper describes tailored testing, in which each testee is presented with a new item on an interactive computer terminal based on his performance on items just taken. The practicality of tailored testing and necessary conditions for developing a tailored testing system are discussed. (Author/JKS)

Reviews individual coping theory and family stress theory to provide a theoretical foundation for assessing adolescent coping. Presents development and testing of an adolescent self-report coping inventory, the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences. Gender differences in coping styles are discussed. (Author/NB)

Provides recommendations to aid teachers (elementary and secondary) in planning tests, constructing item types (essay, short answer, true-false, or other alternate response, matching, multiple-choice), administering tests, scoring tests, analyzing tests, and using test results. (KH)

Procedures for generating multiple-choice exams in psychology using the Apple IIe computer and the Applewriter II text editing software are described. The model is simple to use and provides flexibility in sequencing the choice of items from an instructor generated pool. (Author/RM)

Tests of creative production given to 75 college students used three different types of instructions. The total number of superior responses was equal for brainstorming and criteria-cued instructions and greater than standard instructions. Criteria-cued instructions worked more efficiently, producing the largest number of creative responses for…

Looks at errors made in assessment by teachers and makes a plea for adequate programs of training in assessment for teachers and for a greater understanding of assessment issues among students and the wider community. (Author/JOW)

Criterion-referenced performance tests (CRPT) provide a realistic method for objectively measuring task proficiency against predetermined attainment standards. This article explains the procedures of constructing, validating, and scoring CRPTs and includes a checklist for a welding test. (JOW)

Addresses the theoretically important question of whether g is merely an artifact of the method of constructing psychometric tests and the mathematical operations of factor analysis or whether it has an authentic claim to represent some natural phenomenon that exists independently of psychometrics and factor analysis. (Author/ABB)

Discusses, for the benefit of research workers and other test users, the ongoing controversy concerning the relative merits of conventional test theory and Rasch scaling in the construction of reading tests. Concludes that a great deal of further research is required to see whether these approaches are educationally valid. (JD)

Describes the development of a 20-item measure of irrational belief that asks only about irrational belief and not about anxiety reactions. Two studies of the scale produced evidence that it has good internal consistency and good test retest reliability. Three additional studies of the scale found evidence of validity. (Author/NB)

A structured behavior-observation instrument for studying supervision (mode of communication, function, content, tone, location, and target) had high reliability when used with five administrators in schools for severely mentally retarded children. Supervisors generally spent more time on administrative than professional or teaching-related…

A screening instrument composed of items indexing social support and parenting attitudes correctly identified over 90 percent of maladaptive and comparison mothers. Cross validation on a second sample produced highly similar results. (CL)

Reports on a study in the development of content-fair essay topics that provide the majority of examinees with the chance to write on a subject about which they know a great deal, and that reduce opportunities for linguistic misinterpretation. (HTH)

Describes the purpose, procedures, resources, guidelines, content, and normative data of the North Carolina Marital and Family Therapy Certification Examination as a frame of reference for the development of other licensing and certification instruments. Presents guidelines toward the development of a national marital and family therapy…