This report summarizes the development and validation of a test of literal comprehension based on a modified cloze technique. This modification of the cloze offers an objective and partially computerized procedure for constructing items in the multiple-choice format. A field test of the multiple-choice cloze (MCC) involved the administration of 36…

A method for establishing minimal acceptable performance levels for criterion referenced multiple choice examinations is described and two procedures for evaluating its validity are discussed. The method involves assigning a priori item difficulties based on the similarity between the distractor and the correct response. In estimating the validity…

Performance testing often entails the usage of expensive, time-consuming measures in the quest for determining the level of performance on some desired behavior. It is concluded that a generalizability theory approach to dealing with departures from reality in testing can aid in the establishment of empirically-based choices of measurement…

During the past few years the problem of bias in testing has become an increasingly important issue. In most research, bias refers to the fair use of tests and has thus been defined in terms of an outside criterion measure of the performance being predicted by the test. Recently however, there has been growing interest in assessing bias when such…

A 60-item short form of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) was compared to the present form of 150 items to determine whether the same constructs are common to both sets of items. Correlations were computed between scores on the two forms for 675 undergraduate elementary, secondary, and all levels education majors yielding…

Word-deletion items to be used as measures of comprehension were constructed by deleting a content word from an ambiguous target sentence constrained by an accompanying context sentence. One hundred twenty, third-grade students and 120 sixth-grade students each completed all of the items as one of three degrees of contextual constraint. Analysis…

The research reported was an effort to determine whether, in the absence of validated models or measuring instruments effective for objective counseling of mature females, such often-relied upon, easily obtained, visible pieces of data as age, number of children, and educational background are critical predictor variables for counselors and…

The United States Training and Employment Service General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), first published in 1947, has been included in a continuing program of research to validate the tests against success in many different occupations. The GATB consists of 12 tests which measure nine aptitudes: General Learning Ability; Verbal Aptitude; Numerical…

The United States Training and Employment Service General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), first published in 1947, has been included in a continuing program of research to validate the tests against success in many different occupations. The GATB consists of 12 tests which measure nine aptitudes: General Learning Ability; Verbal Aptitude; Numerical…

The United States Training and Employment Service General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), first published in 1947, has been included in a continuing program of research to validate the tests against success in many different occupations. The GATB consists of 12 tests which measure nine aptitudes: General Learning Ability; Verbal Aptitude; Numerical…

This paper is part 3 of Research Department Report Number 123, "Exploring the T.R.Q.: An Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Teachers' Rating Questionnaire," which gave questionnaire users information necessary to tailor the instrument to their own needs. Retention of TRQ questions which generated good distributions of teacher ratings…

This report assesses the validity, reliability, and efficiency of the Teachers' Rating Questionnaire (TRQ), a pupils' school success measure developed in connection with a 1961 longitudinal Study of Achievement. TRQ ratings on nearly 14,000 pupils, gathered in the Study of Achievement and a New Canadian Report, constituted the data source.…

The capability was studied of each of three models for producing indices that will reproduce school effectiveness rankings established a priori through simulation. The models used were a within-group regression technique, a regression model using individual scores, and a regression model using means. Data for 54 hypothetical schools on input, SES,…

The effectiveness of test adaptation based on item selection and reordering of a Spanish (Mexican) version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) was examined. Translated forms were administered to a sample of Mexican students. One item from each pair (A and B) was selected and reordered using a priori rules. The revised instrument was…

This study tested opposing predictions made by Gamson's Minimum Resource Theory and equity theory concerning the type of coalitions that will be formed when members of a triad expect that rewards will be correlated with amounts of individual resources. Results supported equity theory in that subjects, whose work on a pretask was used as the basis…