Explores heterosexist bias in seven widely used assessment instruments. Focuses on bias that is observable in the instruments themselves and in the ancillary materials. Describes three types of bias, how these biases manifest in various instruments, and makes recommendations for mental health practitioners and for professionals who develop…

Comments on an article that explored heterosexist bias in seven widely used assessment instruments. Raises concerns about how the article defined homophobia and heterosexism, and advocates a cautious approach to decreasing heterosexist and homophobic bias in assessment, which includes gathering assessment data. (RJM)

Determining whether score distributions differ on two or more test forms administered to samples of examinees from a single population is explored using three statistical tests using loglinear models. Examples are presented of applying tests of distribution differences to decide if equating is needed for alternative forms of a test. (SLD)

Reviews common errors in accounting tests that students commit resulting from deficiencies in fundamental prior knowledge, ineffective test taking, and inattention to detail and provides solutions to the problems. (JOW)

Describes an education professor's antipathy toward standardized tests, based on first graders' reactions to three days of year-end standardized testing. Although many respondents felt good about themselves as learners, most did not do particularly well on the tests. Standardized tests are not the best way to measure young children's learning…

The nature and magnitude of practice effects on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (D. Wechsler, 1987) were studied with 64 adult college students. The clinically meaningful increase observed across the four test sessions highlights the importance of controlling for practice effects on repeated administration of neuropsychological measures. (SLD)

Describes opposition to use of standardized tests for high-stakes decisions because of: their lack of scientific basis, imprecise measurement, teaching to the test, and student alienation, particularly among minorities. (EV)

Suggests that because of the nonlinear relationship between item usage and item security, the problems of test security posed by continuous administration of standardized tests cannot be resolved merely by increasing the size of the item pool. Offers alternative strategies to overcome these problems, distributing test items so as to avoid the…

Rasch proposed an exact conditional inference approach to testing his model but never implemented it because it involves the calculation of a complicated probability. This paper furthers Rasch's approach by (1) providing an efficient Monte Carlo methodology for accurately approximating the required probability and (2) illustrating the usefulness…

For a multitude of reasons candidates do not always complete all assessments in the examinations they are entered for. Using examination data across a range of GCSE specifications offered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, this article details the impact of "unaccepted" absence on educational attainment, and explores absence…

American schools face pressure to increase their students' test scores. Research reports have shown American students to be particularly stressed over test taking partially because of other outside interests in their lives that also take up time. This paper offers tips to help students relieve stress arising from the testing situation. Students…

This paper discusses the fact that reliability is about scores and not tests and how reliability limits effect sizes. The paper also explores the classical reliability coefficients of stability, equivalence, and internal consistency. Stability is concerned with how stable test scores will be over time, while equivalence addresses the relationship…

This study reports the results of a nationwide questionnaire survey of 204 speech and language clinicians from 65 facilities for mentally retarded individuals. Information was requested from clinicians about which language test they used with the mentally retarded population, why they used these tests, and how often they used them. Residential and…

The rapid growth of minimum competency testing (by 1981, 36 states in the United States had mandated some form of minimum competency testing) has led to increased legal challenges of the existing testing programs. Three issues have been raised and are summarized in this brief overview: (1) constitutional claims under the due process clause; (2)…

Results of an examination given under two levels of anxiety are discussed in their assessment of relationships between trait anxiety, transitory anxiety, mood, and performance. (Author/KM)