Through dynamic testing (the notion that tailored testing can be extended to the use of a learning oriented approach to assessment), analysis were made of how motivational, personality, and cognitive style factors interact with assessment approaches to yield performance data. Testing procedures involving simple feedback, elaborated feedback, and subject verbalization were applied to the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), a test of nonverbal intelligence, and selected Piaget measures, and were tested in 434 second- and fourth-grade children from the general population. Applicability of the approach was demonstrated for populations of children between 5 and 10 years of age, and of "normal" intelligence (IQ), of learning handicapped, low IQ, and from Anglo, Black, and Hispanic-American ethnic groups. Analysis was made of the interactive effects of testing condition with the cognitive style variable, impulsivity-reflectivity. Evidence was presented that compensatory effects can be obtained for impulsive children and children of ethnic minorities utilizing the procedures of verbalization and elaborated feedback. The indication that compensatory effects can be obtained in assessing between ethnic group differences may be useful in reducing test bias, but larger samples with control over factors such as socio-economic status are necessary before reaching firm conclusions. (Author/RL)