The issues discussed in these four papers concern the validity and generalizability of classroom observation instruments. These issues have been studied and are reported here in an attempt to better define the limits to which classroom observation instruments can be used in researching relationships between teacher behavior and student outcome.…

Cooperative testing is a rather specific and practical aspect of validity generalization or test transportability. It refers to two or more units of government combining their testing and/or recruiting efforts. The Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970 (P.L. 1-648) made specific provision for cooperative examining in stating that the Civil…

This paper discusses the role of intelligence in language comprehension. In the study reported, an attempt is made to determine how much of the variability in English reading scores of non-native speakers of English can be predicted on the basis of intelligence alone. In the study, three measures of reading comprehension are used: a traditional…

This study looked at conceptions of effective high schools held by high school principals, central office staff members, and representatives of the state department of education in Delaware. Data were collected through personal interviews and analyzed through "phenomenological content analysis." Four very different images of…

A study was conducted (1) to analyze the Educational Participation Scale (EPS) factor patterns derived from a sample of senior citizens in order to contribute additional reliability and validity data to the instrument; and (2) to look at reasons that have influenced senior citizens to pursue educational activities, specifically the Elderhostel…

Educational achievement tests, career interest inventories, and aptitude tests are reviewed for examples of sex bias, and changes in policy concerning the use of these tests are suggested. These suggestions are within the authority and responsibility of local and state educational administrators, teachers, counselors, parents, and students. The…

Educational Progress in Careers (EPIC), Inc., was organized (1) to develop and validate a system for evaluating career, economic, and community education projects in Florida schools and to assist educators and school district administrators in assessing the status of career, economic, and community education programs; (2) to develop valid data…

The technology of transforming sentences from prose instruction into test questions was examined by comparing two methods of selecting sentences (keyword vs. rare singleton), two types of question words (nouns vs. adjectives), and two foil construction methods (writer's choice vs. algorithmic). Four item writers created items using each…

To explain the discrepancy between median scores on the 1976 administration of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), ten technical variables typical of achievement tests were considered as explanations. (1) The STEP may measure different…

The development of reading and language awareness was investigated by measuring beginning letter and word knowledge in five- and six-year-old children of average ability. A letter and word reading test was constructed on the basis of a hierarchical representation of linguistic awareness of preschool children; 50 children's performance on this test…

Item response data were obtained from large samples of students in Grades K-community college, taking the following tests: Stanford Early School Achievement Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Stanford Test of Academic Skills, Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, and Stanford Diagnostic Mathematical Test. Data were classified as fitting or non-fitting…

The relative validity of adaptive and conventional testing strategies using non-test variables as one set of external criteria was investigated. A total of 101 college students completed both a variable length stradaptive test and peaked conventional test; a second group of 131 college students completed a variable length Bayesian adaptive test…

TO CLARIFY ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE RAPID AND CONTINUING EXPANSION OF OVERSEAS STUDY PROGRAMS FOR AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS, A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WAS MADE OF DATA OBTAINED FROM A BATTERY OF TESTS AND INTERVIEWS WITH 85 JUNIORS ACCEPTED FOR STUDY ABROAD IN THE SPRING OF 1965. FINDINGS WERE COMPARED WITH SIMILAR DATA FOR NON-APPLICANTS AND REJECTED…

Based on data collected from the 1,288 students who enrolled at Kapiolani Community College as first-time freshmen in Fall 1979, a study was undertaken to determine the characteristics of new students that are predictive of two dependent variables: (1) second semester enrollment, and (2) a first semester grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or above.…

The Spanish/English Language Performance Screening (S/ELPS) was designed to assist the preschool and early elementary classroom teacher in objectively determining each child's dominant oral language for initial instruction. This report summarizes the development and testing performed in order to revise and validate the measure. After an intensive…