Conclusions drawn from results of the practical skills testing of the Second International Association of Evaluation in Educational Assessment Science Study are presented for the six countries participating. Data analyses have indicated that the practical skills tests measured performance that differed from that measured by the paper-and-pencil…

A study of 20 graduate medical students who received unfavorable evaluations and 20 who received the highest evaluations found little difference between the groups in medical school admission qualifications, overall academic achievement, or standardized test performance. Ratings appear to be the result of personal or motivational issues, not…

Item parameter estimates derived through item response theory methods have been considered relatively robust to changes in item position and context, but the anomaly in reading scores from the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) illustrates problems with common population equating procedures when there are test form changes.…

An alternative approach to Chapter 1 accountability is proposed that would reward schools for reducing the number of students who fail to meet minimum standards on appropriate tests. Program improvement services would be increased and made available to all Chapter 1 schools. (SLD)

Raven's Progressive Matrices and the Simpson Adult Vocabulary Scale were administered to 400 Australian hospitalized adults without psychiatric or neurological impairment in 4 age groups from 30 to 69 years. Compared to pre-1964 data, the subjects did not show gains in intelligence quotient as did younger age groups. (SLD)

Examines how learning-support resources are allocated to Scottish secondary schools, drawing on data from an Edinburgh education authority. Although a rationale for allocating resources based on socioeconomic indices can be constructed, basing decisions on a combination of standardized attainment tests and special-needs audits is preferable.…

Examines differences in an index of 4,172 urban private/public school seniors' standardized test performance, based on a 1992 national longitudinal study. Controlling for family and other variables, concludes that white students perform marginally better in private (Catholic) schools. However, minority students showed no performance gain.…

Whether there is a gender-by-item interaction that makes easy mathematics test items easier for females than for males and difficult items harder for females than for males was tested in two studies, involving 10,321 eighth graders and 5332 ninth graders and results from nine mathematics tests. The hypothesis was generally supported, as discussed.…

Studied the relationship between the ease with which children use orthographic analogies and their reading skills. Results of an experiment using a reading age match design showed that poor readers performed as well as normal readers on orally presented measures of onset/rhyme sensitivity, but less well on visually/orally presented rhyme tasks.…

Tests the hypothesis that, owing to sex differences in prior knowledge and interests, the topic of a text is an important factor explaining sex-based differences in student scores on foreign-language tests. Results indicate that differences between the sexes in prior knowledge contribute to sex differences in foreign-language reading…

Investigates the performance of students from different language backgrounds, using data from a computer-adaptive Japanese grammar test developed as a placement tool. Findings indicate item difficulties to be quite different for each group of candidates and imply that when candidates are from a different background from that of the trial…

Discusses problems with correct verb use in the written work of students studying French. Examiners' reports indicate that the standard of verb use is declining, while the literature reveals that verb learning has inherent difficulties. The article critiques computer-assisted instruction and proposes a new approach. (23 references) (Author/CK)

Reveals significant correlation between older Maltese students and high test scores on their examinations to enter junior high. Older students are those born in the early months of the year. Study found little difference in scores between genders, although girls were more likely to pass the examination than boys. (MJP)

Public school students, parents, and teachers are protesting "high stakes" standardized tests that bar many deserving students from promotion or graduation. A typical high stakes test is a state-mandated 10th-grade test that students must pass to graduate high school. They are called high stakes because a student's entire high school career rides…

In this study, the author examined the validity of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) for non-U.S. students (N = 75) through a predictive validation procedure in which applicants were given the predictor test but the test results were not used to admit students. The author's business school admitted students to three overseas MBA…