A sample of the literature on test speededness is reviewed; methods of assessing speededness are presented and criticized; the assumptions that underlie these methods are questioned, and alternate, multiple-administration methods are suggested. The importance of the effect of time limits is discussed. (Author/CTM)

This article criticizes the generally held assumption that psychological test scores are trait measures. Reasons for the continuing belief in this fallacy, as well as the social consequences of its general acceptance, are discussed. Suggestions for avoiding the test-trait fallacy are made. (EB)

The doctoral comprehensive examination is still the most often used method of evaluating doctoral students for candidacy. Widespread dissatisfaction, however, on the part of both professors and students continues. This article gives suggestions for improving the written portion of the doctoral comprehensive examination. (Author)

Compared the WISC-R Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancies of learning-disabled children and of the normative sample. It was concluded that without clinical evidence to suggest otherwise, it cannot be assumed automatically that a child's discrepancy score, unless of extreme magnitude, is related to the learning disability itself. (Author)

Using data from the SCRE Criterion Test composition papers, the author tests the hypothesis that the bulk of inter-marker unreliability is caused by inter-marker inconsistency--which is not correctable statistically. He suggests that a shift to "consensus" standards will realize greater improvements than statistical standardizing alone.…

A professor of physical chemistry sees a sharp decline in math competence among his students and feels the reason is poor testing. How this can be changed is outlined, including a proposal to examine by computer. (Author/MSE)

Findings indicated that (1) stable preference measures could be obtained, (2) high preference objects resulted in higher motivation to perform and hence higher levels on each scale, (3) performance of this population is not stable, and (4) ordinality was violated in nearly 20 percent of the administrations of the scales. (Author)

All of the measures require greater reading capability than tests like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory that are designed for use with diverse clinical populations. Unfortunately, some important measures based on promising social-learning conceptualizations of marital conflict were among the more difficult. (Author)

Test papers of seventh-grade examinees were scored using students' initial responses, then rescored using their final responses on a subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Results indicate that reliability coefficients and item discriminations are not adversely affected by examinee response changes. (Author)

Examines two common errors in evaluation and ways to circumvent them. The first error is faulty pretesting or diagnostic evaluation. The second is failure to monitor student progress and plan instruction in relation to the specified learning goals. (SJL)

Investigated scoring agreement among three different training levels of Visual Motor Integration Test (VMI) diagnosticians. Correlational data demonstrated high interexaminer reliabilities; however, there were gross errors in precision after raw scores had been converted into VMI age equivalent scores. (Author/RC)

Examines three standardized college composition tests in terms of the context of the assignment and the impact of social influences and the testing situation. Stresses inadequacies inherent to standardized composition testing. (HTH)

The Selected Marker Tests were examined for scoring problems and internal consistency and were administered orally to sixth and seventh graders. Scoring problems were discovered and changes were suggested. The problem was found to be item reliability rather than interrater reliability. (Author/MH)

A defense of testing is given. The author examines opposition to and criticism of testing, and discusses teaching to the test, effects on curricula, and test bias. (MK)

Learning quotients (LQ-ratio of actual to expected achievement) were computed for second, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders. Results indicated that the LQ was not statistically stable across tests, grade level, gender, or ethnicity. (CL)