The purpose of this research was to investigate the diagnostic validity of the Maryland Diagnostic Arithmetic Test (MDAT) as a group-administered test. The MDAT is a domain-referenced diagnostic test consisting of several sub-tests covering the content of elementary school arithmetic from sets to non-negative rational numbers. Forty-five…

The relative contribution of a variety of variables to different self-concept sub-constructs requires further exploration despite the existence of vast research about overall self-regard. The contributions of demographic, achievement, achievement motivation, and school self-concept dimensions to the prediction of the physical, moral-ethical,…

The Bilingual Oral Language Test (BOLT-English) was pilot tested in January 1976, field tested in April 1976, and again in October, November 1976, on a population of more than 3,000 students in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pomona, Riverside, and Palm Springs, California. Results reported include concurrent validity values of .9 and .86 when…

The effectiveness of a strategy for improving performance on multiple choice items for examinees with different levels of test anxiety was assessed. Undergraduate measurement students responded to the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Scale and to an objective test covering course content. Results indicated that, for most examinees, generation of an…

Since 1975, the Chicago public schools have been conducting ongoing research and development related to the identification and remediation of prekindergarten children with potential learning problems. The present study describes initial efforts toward the creation of a longitudinal data base aimed at determining (1) prekindergarten-age…

The development of a contextual classroom observation system is described. The system consists of an instrument, trained observers, data handling, and analysis. Thus, instrument development was necessarily paralleled by the development of training procedures, data recording and processing systems, programming, and analytic techniques. The…

To compile a list of activities and achievements considered as creative by laymen, 239 graduate and undergraduate students named their three most creative accomplishments and activities in each of six areas: mathematics and science; music; fine arts; performing arts; literature; and miscellaneous. This resulted in a 198-item list, which was rated…

A continuing project titled "Measuring Career Readiness in Elementary Education" had as its fourth-year goal constructing learning activities to coordinate with six subtest areas of the Career Education Readiness Test (CERT). The secondary goal was to continue the refinement of the CERT through the analysis of data gathered during the…

The manner in which instructions to respondents influenced the psychometric results of an affective instrument was examined. Undergraduate students enrolled in an educational measurement course were randomly assigned to either immediate response or careful response treatments. A fifteen-item attitude scale was administered to both groups. The…

The Parenting Stress Index (PSI) is a clinical and research self-report instrument designed to identify mother-child systems which are under stress and to indicate the sources of stress. It is based on the research literature in child development, parent functioning, and stress. The normative sample for the PSI consisted of 470 mothers with at…

Two different formats for multiple-choice test items were compared in an experimental test given in a college class in introductory psychology. In one format, a question or incomplete statement was followed by four answers or completions, only one of which was correct. In the other format, the double multiple-choice version, the same questions…

The predictive value of the high-school-level battery of the tests of General Educational Development (GED) for two-year college academic performance was investigated. GED tests scores were examined to determine if they could substitute for a complete high school record as a source of predictor data. Student record data from a registrar's office…

The purposes of this paper are to explore and present various opinions concerning the nature of functional literacy and the questions involved in assessing the extent to which one is or is not functionally literate, and to describe one instrument designed to measure functional literacy. The major sections of the paper provide information on the…

Because a critical issue in current assessment efforts is the widespread use of technically inadequate tests, the study examined tests chosen by 159 school professionals during a computer simulation of placement decision making about potentially handicapped students. Chi square analysis showed technically adequate devices were chosen…

A chronology of the development of a mathematics anxiety scale is given. Included are a model describing six facets of mathematics anxiety and the eighteen items used on the anxiety scale. Stability and internal consistency measures are reported, and the scale is correlated with measures of mathematical confidence and general anxiety towards…