A suggested technique for analyzing distributions of test scores compares distributions of scores made by groups of pupils on standard tests with distributions made by other groups of students on the same tests. By identifying the percents of student scores which must be shifted to an adjacent cell (interval) to make the two distributions exactly…

Observations during research involving the Bruce Treadmill Test (BTMT) indicating that Stage III for females and Stage IV for males represented speeds which are intermediate between comfortable walking and confortable jogging for many subjects, prompted this study to determine ways to obtain more consistent group results. Twenty-eight subjects…

The results of an investigation of the evidences, causes, and consequences of the decline of achievement test scores are discussed. First, data from ten different standardized achievement test batteries were reviewed to determine whether or not achievement test scores actually have been declining since the mid sixties. Second, changes in the…

Investigated empirically through post mortem item-examinee sampling were the relative merits of two alternative procedures for allocating items to subtests in multiple matrix sampling and the feasibility of using the jackknife in approximating standard errors of estimate. The results indicate clearly that a partially balanced incomplete block…

A pre-testing orientation was incorporated into the Work Incentives Program, a pre-vocational program for disadvantaged youth. Test-taking skills were taught in seven and one half hours of instruction and a variety of methods were used to provide a sequential experience with distributed learning, positive reinforcement, and immediate feedback of…

Certain modifications of a conventional test are proposed which force the item difficulty level to adjust automatically to the ability level of the examinee. The modified test is called a flexilevel test. Although different examinees take different sets of items, the scoring method provides comparable scores for all. Furthermore, the test is…

A need exists for the National Institute of Education (NIE) to extend the range of its concern with measurement into a number of new areas. While the measurement of basic cognitive abilities is well-advanced, accurate measures of affective and higher-order cognitive abilities are not generally available. Measurement could also be extended into…

Since mid-1971 the Instructional Objectives Exchange has been engaged in a major effort to develop and disseminate criterion-referenced tests in the fields of reading, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. This paper isolates the chief technical decision-alternatives faced in this project, such as: (1) the optimal number of tests to…

The 1966 meeting of the Western Regional Conference on Testing Problems dealt with accelerated educational change. The following speeches were presented: (1) "Access to Higher Education: Implications for Future Planning" by Richard Pearson; (2) "The Differentiated Youth: A Challenge to Traditional Institutions" by Joseph D. Lohman; (3) "Teaching…

The present study compared the effects of assertion with that of progressive relaxation training in systematic desensitization. Nineteen Ss were selected on the basis of exemplifying high debilitating test anxiety according to Alpert and Haber's (1960) Achievement Anxiety Test. Results showed that test anxious Ss who received either relaxation or…

This paper discusses some methodological, theoretical and physiological issues to be considered in the use of film tests in research relating to visual cognition and memory. One trouble spot in methodology is the use of a square data matrix with an insufficient number of observations in proportion to variables. A second methodological problem…

From a study on drug treatment effects on the memory and affective functioning of ambulatory geriatric volunteers, the author recommends several methodological accommodations as necessary and expedient to geriatric assessment. Special procedural attention is required by certain characteristics unique to, or exaggerated among, elderly participants.…

This report documents (1) the problems inherent in multiple choice testing, (2) a solution to the problems, and (3) computer programs required by the solution. Problems of multiple choice testing include scheduling inflexibility, methodological inflexibility, cheating, inefficiencies of space and student interaction time, inefficiencies of…

Hypotheses for the decline in the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores can be listed under four headings: changes in society, changes in the schools, changes in the testing population, and problems with the tests. However, it is concluded that SAT scores are still constant and reliable measures. (JY)

Discusses the issue that teachers in the Caribbean neglect the education of their pupils to prepare them for examinations, and offers an outline of the elements involved in the development of a syllabus that will educate pupils in the fullest sense, and from which the examination will follow. (Author/AM)