This discussion of educational trends of interest to school superintendents focuses on three issues: (1) the general decline of birth rates, school enrollments, staff, facilities, and expenditures for instruction; (2) the increase in mandated assessments and programs brought on by declining academic performance and political influences; (3) the…

The relationship between the ratings students assigned to an evening undergraduate abnormal psychology class and their scores on objective personality tests and course examinations was investigated. Students (N=70) completed the MMPI and made global ratings of the course; these scores were correlated separately by sex with the T scores of 13 MMPI…

This state of the art review discusses approaches to the measurement of theological concepts, and briefly describes the purpose and limitations of selected tests in the following areas: religious knowledge (mainly biblical knowledge); theological belief; religiosity--observable religious activity; religious experience--mystical experience; and…

Three do-it-yourself intelligence test handbooks, five mini-textbooks, and five consumer protection guides are reviewed. Each type of publication reflects different social ideologies and communicates favorable, cautiously neutral, or critical messages, respectively, about testing. Psychologists Jules Leopold, Martin Lutterjohan, and Victor…

The increasing use of criterion referenced testing (CRT) among the various branches of the federal government is described. The requirements of the merit system have tended to promote the use of norm referenced tests except for uses such as pass/fail performance tests. The two areas in which criterion-referenced tests have been most useful are…

An overview is presented of a performance-based assessment system, Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments (TPAI), developed by the Teacher Assessment Project at the University of Georgia to measure competencies of beginning teachers for initial professional certification. To clearly separate the preparation and certification functions within…

A STUDY OF FIVE DIFFERENT ESSAY EVALUATION PROCEDURES WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE INTRARELIABILITY OF EACH AND TO USE THESE RELIABILITY SCORES AS A BASIS FOR COMPARING THE FIVE PROCEDURES. TEN THEMES WERE ASSIGNED TO FIVE RATING GROUPS, EACH USING A DIFFERENT EVALUATION PROCEDURE--(1) THE CALIFORNIA ESSAY SCALE, (2) THE CLEVELAND COMPOSITION…

ALTHOUGH MOST EDUCATORS AGREE THAT EXAMINATIONS PERFORM AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION IN APPRAISING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, SOME CLAIM THAT MULTIPLE CHOICE TESTS DEGENERATE INTO A GAME OF "BEAT THE MONKEY," I.E., ANSWERING MORE THAN 25 PERCENT OF THE ITEMS CORRECTLY, THE RATING EVEN A MONKEY COULD BE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE. SAMPLE STUDIES REVEAL THAT THE…

This monograph serves as a nontechnical guide to teachers, counselors, school psychologists, administrators, parents, and others who use the 1974 Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests. The Standards are a concise summary of standards and guidelines for the development, evaluation, interpretation, use, and reporting of information on…

A bill introduced in the New York State Legislature on April 26, 1979, would require that all tests used for postsecondary or professional school admissions become "public records" after they have been administered. The New York State Education Department is opposed to this bill because it would greatly increase the cost of test…

Differences in 164 fifth grade students' reading comprehension scores were obtained with four different tasks typically used to measure comprehension (multiple choice, recall, cloze, and maze), using four different reading passages that were equated according to readability formulas. Data analyses revealed significant effects for passage, task,…

This IRCD Bulletin issue contains two brief papers. One, on contingency management, describes the application of this aspect of operant conditioning theory to the manipulation of behavior through reinforcement methods. Examples of the technique of managing high and low probability behaviors are offered as it is used with preschool children,…

This research documents the development and empirical testing of a theoretically based training program aimed at reducing debilitating anxiety and increasing the skills required for successfully coping with stressful situations in the school setting. The intervention used is an integrated approach incorporating relaxation and deep-breathing…

The effects of achievement-oriented and neutral instructions on the humor ratings of both testing and non-testing cartoons were assessed for high- and low test-anxious students. The effects of humor in reducing state anxiety were also evaluated. Fifty-two undergraduate students were selected on the basis of their Test Anxiety Scale scores. Both…

The application of conventional psychometric procedures to instructional product development is outlined. Selected non-psychometric requirements of developing and delivering effective instruction are described and the consequent implications for psychometric procedures set forth. Present instructional development technology is circumscribed in…