A method for asessing second language test validity by modifying and applying statistical test bias techniques to the performance of language learners from different native language groups was developed out of concern for internal test bias, both overall and item-related. Valid tests should contain some items testing differential performance…

This report describes a procedure that promises to improve the stability, accuracy, and efficiency of the employment of latent trait models and an application of the procedure to the Rasch model. Data were collected from the Portland Public Schools Level Tests administered to 25,740 students. Since each of the 173 items (chosen from the total…

Describes a conceptual model representing the demand and supply of public school teachers and the relationship between the assessed valuation of property within a school district and the training, experience, and salary levels of teachers in the district, based on an analysis of data from 269 Indiana school districts. (Author/JG)

On the premise that the more formal algebraic presentation of statistics must be placed in a concrete context to facilitate student understanding, the author presents a pedagogical device involving the construction of miniature numerical examples that illustrate how the statistical model imposes structure on empirical data. (JT)

Describes a project in which fingerprint patterns were identified and analyzed to determine whether any positive relationship existed between pattern type and academic ability. (LS)

The present study investigated number and nature of school psychological referrals in a black, lower socioeconomic, "inner-city" school system. Unlike earlier investigations, this study demonstrated statistically significant sex and/or developmental differences in stated reason for school psychological referrals. (Author)

In order to investigate the relationship among student orientation--social or conceptual--perception of educational process and context, satisfaction, data from a ten per cent random sample (final "n" was 626) drawn from ninth through twelfth grade students from four public schools was analyzed. Self-administered questionnaires were…

The authors of this report have reanalyzed earlier data to determine whether or not there was a relationship between perceived levels of therapist-offered conditions (e.g., favorableness of patient-therapist relationship) and therapeutic outcome. (Author)

Describes a detailed study used in schools with the highest and lowest percentages of students enrolled in physics in order to determine factors related to enrollment. Twenty-eight indexes were used. Reports percent of variance accounted for and significance level for each variable and offers conclusions. (CP)

Analysis of teacher questionnaires sent to all public elementary schools in the Mideast, New England, and Southwest regions of the United States showed that an adequate budget for supplies and equipment may not be sufficient to get the teachers to use innovative teaching techniques; inservice training appears to be necessary. (MLH)

This paper describes the application of the discrete maximum principle to the problem of the introduction of universal primary education. (Available from Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011) (Author)

Results are said to confirm that current prestige of graduate sociology departments is essentially a function of prior prestige, rather than of staff productivity. [Available from American Sociological Association, 1722 N Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036]. (Author/AM)

The earnings of 211,000 full-time workers in nursing homes and related facilities were surveyed and analyzed. Of 20 metropolitan areas surveyed, New York reported the highest pay scale. (MW)

This paper extends the theory of conditional covariances to polytomous items. It has been mathematically proven that under some mild conditions, commonly assumed in the analysis of response data, the conditional covariance of two items, dichotomously or polytomously scored, is positive if the two items are dimensionally homogeneous and negative…

This study examined how the practice of prepublishing prompts used on the writing section of the Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®) General Test impacts test-preparation behavior, test performance, test validity, and examinee perceptions of the value of prompt prepublication. Researchers imposed modest experimental control over how participants…