A STUDY WHICH DEALT WITH ONE ASPECT OF THE QUESTION OF WHY ONE LANGUAGE IS EASY TO COMPREHEND WHILE ANOTHER IS NOT WAS REPORTED. SPECIFICALLY, IT STUDIED THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING THE PRECISION OF READABILITY PREDICTION. THE OBJECTIVES WERE (1) TO DETERMINE THE FORMS AND STRENGTHS OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTY OF LANGUAGE…

A COMPARISON OF THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET AND THE TRADITIONAL ALPHABET IN FIRST-GRADE READING WAS CONDUCTED. SAMPLES WERE SELECTED FROM SEVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS THAT WERE REPRESENTATIVE OF DIFFERING SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. THE PUPILS WERE PAIRED INTO MATCHED GROUPS. AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS TAUGHT READING BY THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA)…

A study was conducted to explore the issue of testing to determine reading levels of students. A group of 624 fourth and sixth grade students from 13 schools participated in the study, which compared results from an informal reading inventory (IRI), a standardized achievement test, a group reading inventory (GRI), and a cloze test. Pupil…

This paper argues against the expenditure of large amounts of money and the allotment of large segments of classroom time for the formal teaching of reading. While students at all levels should receive up to one-half hour per day of formal reading instruction, more concentrated study does not produce commensurate gains in learning and may, in…

The paper describes the development and use of the Child Behavior Profile, a measure of behavioral problems and competencies standardized for each sex at ages 4 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 16. Cluster analysis is explained to have produced six reliable profile types for boys 6-11 years old; five reliable profile types for boys 12 through 16 years…

To investigate the effect of violating the assumption of equal item difficulty on Kuder-Richardson (KR) Formula 21 reliability coefficient, 670 eighth-and ninth- grade students were administered 26 short, homogeneous "tests" of mathematics concepts and skills. Both KR Formula 20 and KR Formula 21 were used to estimate reliability on each…

This report concerns a test, the Syracuse Environmental Awareness Tests-Level III (SEAT-III), developed at Syracuse University and designed to measure knowledge of and concern for man's environment among high school students and adults. There are four forms of SEAT-III; forms A and B are intended to provide measures of knowledge about…

In a study designed to assess effects of administering the Metropolitan Reading Test (MRT) in Spanish versus English, 100 Puerto Rican kindergarten pupils were randomly split into two groups. The MRT was administered in English to one group and in a Spanish translation to the other group. The group who took the Spanish version significantly…

Current uses of standardized English tests are adversely affecting students, misleading lay people, and having a pernicious effect on the English profession. These tests are severely limited, incapable of assessing speaking skill and effectiveness, reading interests, appreciation of literature, listening skill, understanding and appreciation of…

The purposes of this study were to determine to what extent students' expectancies, as measured by students' predictions, related to test performance; to determine if taking the test would alter or influence students' expectations and the accuracy of their predictions; and to determine if students' expectations could be altered by a report…

A criterion-referenced test is one that is used to identify an individual student's status with respect to an established standard of performance. This standard of performance, a performance objective, describes the expected student behavioral changes and the conditions and criteria under which these changes will occur. The specificity of the…

The Anchor Test Study provides a means for translating a pupil's score on any one of seven widely used standardized reading tests to a corresponding score on any of the other tests for students in grades 4, 5, and 6. In addition, the study provides new estimates of alternate form reliability for each of the seven tests, provides estimates of the…

The process of determining test norms and of using them realistically is discussed. This process involves putting meaning into a single test score by relating it to other test scores achieved by other pupils or by the same pupil at other times. The focus of attention is on the meaning of test norms; it is not on the meaning of types of test…

This report of the Task Force on Measurement and Evaluation in the Study of English (appointed by the National Council of Teachers of English) analyzes the present state of the art of testing and recommends the use of common sense in selecting and using tests and in interpreting the information derived from testing. The report views standardized…

The history and development of city-wide testing programs in Chicago since 1936 are reviewed and placed in context with the impact on testing of Sputnik and the passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Current testing problems include the time lag between events and curricular changes and new test construction, the time lag between…