Research to date on adaptive (sequential, branched, individualized, tailored, programmed, response-contingent) ability testing is reviewed and summarized, following a brief review of problems inherent in conventional individual and group approaches to ability measurement. Research reviewed includes empirical, simulation and theoretical studies of…

The effects of examiner unfamiliarity on the test performance of language handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers and school-age children are explored. Results indicate that examiner unfamiliarity selectively depresses handicapped children's test performance, constituting a systemic source of error and threatening the validity of handicapped…

Examines the validity of estimates of instructional reading level produced by the Reading Comprehension Test of the 1986 Metropolitan Achievement Tests (MAT). Compares reading level estimates provided by the MAT, basal reader placement tests, an informal reading inventory, and classroom teachers' judgments. Suggests that each method, because of…