A brief, nontechnical state-of-the-art review of four common instruments and current practices in the field of scholastic aptitude testing is presented. The instruments include: the 1971 Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT), 1973 Henmon-Nelson Tests of Mental Ability (H-NTMA), 1979 Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) and the 1970 Short Form Test of…

Criticizes the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude 2 (DLTA-2): (1) scoring criteria for the Story Construction Test are questionable; (2) the Word Fragment Test may not be practically significant; (3) the Picture Book is inconvenient to use without an index or table of contents. One major strength is the provision for combining subtest scores. (SRT)

Psychologists and educational specialists with expertise in areas related to intelligence testing responded to a questionnaire dealing with possible racial and socioeconomic bias of IQ tests. Overall, experts hold positive attitudes about the validity and usefulness of intelligence and aptitude tests. (Author/LHW)

This paper analyzes research findings about the role of values and beliefs in aptitude testing. Indications are found that the ongoing controversy over the lack of ethnic, racial, and sex fairness in aptitude testing is rooted in the tests themselves. Test designers, it is argued, are influenced by their socioeconomic position (they are usually…

The 12 subtests of the Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) listed in the administration manual were described. The reviewer believes this aptitude battery, designed for use with high school students and adults in job selection and placement, needs major improvements. It is suggested that the BAB be used solely for research purposes. (DWH)

The construct of spatial ability is discussed and it is suggested that some widely used and cited tests that are called spatial ability tests may not be valid measures of that ability. Instead, their items may be solved using mental processes that are clearly analytical and not spatial in nature. Four studies involving the analysis of subjects'…

A school administrator in 1928 expressed a favorable opinion of standardized intelligence and achievement tests, based on research findings correlating test scores with student achievement. Quotations from his article reveal how little the controversy over tests has changed in the intervening years. (TE)

This paper has shown the advantages of tailored testing over traditional methods, the need for latent trait theory in the application of tailored testing, and some of the results available to show the quality of estimates obtained by tailored testing procedures. Since the tailored testing procedures overcome many of the problems with traditional…

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…

These conference proceedings contain statements from those concerned with various aspects of research on job performance measures. Following introductory remarks, the formal presentations of work and ideas include "Air Training Command Interest in the Criterion Problem," by Donald E. Meyer, "The Criterion Problem: A Personnel…