The authors argue that personnel who select standardized achievement tests have been led to believe that the major achievement test batteries differ very little in terms of the topics they test; but that the content covered by these major tests is different, and that such differences have consequences for instructional content. To test this…

The effects of different choice formats on the reliability of teacher-made tests were examined for high and low achievers. The first study examined the effect of 3 and 5 choice items on the reliability of dichotomously scored teacher-made tests. The second study examined the effect of 3 and 4 choice items on the reliability of similarly designed…

Techniques for assessing test validity and reliability are applied to an analysis of an unpublished test, in order to familiarize test users in local bilingual programs with the technical evidence that should be available for instruments of potential use in placing limited English-speaking students. The instrument studied, the Language Assignment…

Five questionnaire forms containing 61 items specifying potential inservice topics for public school teachers were sent to a stratified random sample of Indiana public school administrators and curriculum supervisors. The five forms differed in that, for two forms, the items were ungrouped and appeared in different orders; and, for three forms,…

This paper grew out of a presentation made as part of a panel discussion on the Bakke case, and is second in a series of Institute for the Study of Educational Policy documents on important educational issues and problems. Many of the factors that impact test performance or scores are examined. The primary thesis of the paper is that it is…

Generalizability theory was used to analyze the dependability of elementary school student ratings of attitudes toward school subjects. The rating scales under investigation have been developed to measure the attitudes of students toward four school subjects at both the primary and intermediate levels. Two generalizability coefficients, differing…

Three basic areas of definition, measurement, and research, voiced as concerns by members of the National Council of Measurement in Education (NCME) to its Task Force on Measurement Problems in Competency-Based Programs, are used as an organizer for a sponsored symposia and the papers in this monograph. The problem of the definition of competency…

Questions are addressed pertaining to the Language Assessment Battery (LAB), currently the only single battery that meets all of the state of Connecticut criteria for an instrument to determine which pupils must be offered bilingual education. Normed on an English dominant population, the primary purpose was to obtain its psychometric…

The Annehurst Curriculum Classification System (ACCS), a tool for matching individual learners with appropriate curriculum materials, was used with a group of fifty-nine students (Air National Guard officer candidates) and their four instructor-advisors to examine two issues: (1) the applicability of the ACCS in a highly structured,…

Described is a study which represents an attempt to investigate the construct validity and internal consistency of a Test of Logical Thinking, the reliability of the IAR scale, and the relationship between formal reasoning ability and locus of control. (Author/SA)

The Home Bilingual Usage Estimate was designed to measure a person's home-family language usage and to yield a single classification according to a criterion scale. The following classifications were established: English monolingual, English dominant, apparent bilingual, Spanish dominant, or Spanish monolingual. Validity was determined by the…

As part of a needs assessment conducted for the Virginia public schools during the year 1969-70, the Virginia Affective Assessment Questionnaire (VAAQ) was developed. The VAAQ assesses affective traits, such as motivation and self concept, that are related to academic success--as measured by standardized achievement tests and performance in the…

The Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale (NSKS) is a 48 item, Likert-type instrument designed to assess high school students' understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. This attitude scale is based on a six-factor model adapted from the factor-explication format used by Victor Showalter. Scientific knowledge is characterized as: (1)…

To measure the sex role attitudes of Army personnel, an initial set of 174 items was developed. These items were administered to 721 soldiers at three Army installations; the sample consisted of 540 men and 181 women--401 of these were officers and 320 were enlisted personnel. Factor analysis of these 174 items indicated one strong…

Procedures which are used by Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc., in developing achievement tests are described; these steps are suggested to be typical of major test publishers. A curricular analysis of fifth grade mathematics textbooks is presented, to illustrate the process which determines which skills and objectives are tested. The…