Since standardized tests are constructed for the purpose of measuring the intellectual capacity of school children from the diverse sociocultural backgrounds in America, one of the main topics of this article concerns the standardization bias inherent in these tests. (Author/AM)

This study was conducted to determine the effects of a test containing items closely related to the black experience on the performance of white subjects and to determine whether cultural bias could be successfully built into a test that discriminates against white persons. (Author/AM)

Some of the approaches employed to reduce students' test anxiety are briefly reviewed and attention is focused upon the use of hypnosis. A one-to-one therapeutic approach using hypnosis as a technique is outlined and the feasibility of its extension to group treatment is explored in an experimental context. (Editor)

The author responds to W. Arndt's and M. Byrne's criticisms of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test (NSST), a test for assessing receptive and expressive grammar in young children. (SBH)

Criticizes the standard tests for listening comprehension because the material heard is often of poor quality and only about 20 percent of the questions actually test listening skills. Describes a self-made listening comprehension on Ibsen's "A Doll's House." (SRT)

An important determinant of equating process efficiency is the correlation between the anchor test and components of each form. Use of some monotonic function of this correlation as a measure of equating efficiency is suggested. A model relating anchor test length and test reliability to this measure of efficiency is presented. (Author/DWH)

The testlet, a bundle of test items, alleviates some problems associated with computerized adaptive testing: context effects, lack of robustness, and item difficulty ordering. While testlets may be linear or hierarchical, the most useful ones are four-level hierarchical units, containing 15 items and partitioning examinees into 16 classes. (GDC)

The article defines educational malpractice; identifies early cases; describes contemporary cases in special education, testing, and physical education; and summarizes elements for professionals to consider in program planning and curricula reform which will reduce the risk of a malpractice judgment. (CB)

The author, the Chief Executive Officer of the Golden Rule Insurance Company, explains why his company brought the lawsuit against the State of Illinois and the Educational Testing Service and how it was settled. He believes settlement was a step forward and should not be dismissed as a mistake. (JAZ)

This article suggests that mechanical application of Golden Rule-like procedures is inappropriate. The fundamental idea embodied in them, namely, that of taking issues of equity into account in test construction, may reasonably be done without doing violence to test validity. (JAZ)

This is a reprint of a 1986 letter by the former president of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) to New York and California legislators. The author outlines why NCME is opposed to legislative initiatives to extend Golden Rule procedures to tests in those states. (JAZ)

The Jordanian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination is an achievement test constructed, administered, scored, and reported by the ministry of Education. The examination is discussed in terms of history, philosophy, objectives, structure and operation, use of data, predictive validity, and side effects. (LMO)

Reports on what started out to be a survey of the use of the informal reading inventory (IRI) by teachers that revealed the technique to be embedded in a complex environment. Concludes that the use of IRIs and other diagnostic methods can be limited when teachers do not have primary responsibility for making placement decisions. (FL)

Disordered processes and severity levels identified by the "Assessment of Phonological Processes" measure were compared with those obtained from three more easily administered conventional articulation tests in a case study of a phonologically disordered preschool child. Results indicated some adaptations and careful analysis are…

The test equating accuracy of content-representative anchors (subsets of items in common) versus nonrepresentative, but substantially longer, anchors was compared for a professional certification examination. Through a chain of equatings, it was found that content representation in anchors was critical. (Author/GDC)