Research indicates that many questions on reading comprehension tests can be answered from previous knowledge and are not dependent upon the passages in the tests. (MKM)

Reviews the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Forms E and F) and finds it an easy to use and valid norm-referenced survey test for determining the level of student reading achievement, assessing individual differences, and deriving group means. (AEA)

Provides an approach for selecting and evaluating both group and individually administered standardized tests of reading. Reviews considerations of the quality of test development; test content; test reliability and validity; and concerns of cost and time investment. Presents sample ratings of two common instruments. (RS)

Warns that college reading instructors must be aware that standardized tests do not measure the types of skills taught in reading classes. Argues that reading instructors need to develop an awareness of what the scores on standardized reading tests do and do not tell them. (RAE)

Cites attempts to define and assess adult literacy, noting the trend toward real-life performance-task items which are criterion referenced. (MKM)

Reviews the revised edition of the Test of Reading Comprehension (TORC). Finds the test to be an interesting and unique approach to the assessment of reading comprehension. Notes that the test is consistent with current philosophies related to the nature of reading comprehension. (RS)

Reviews the Reading Diagnostic Tests which form part of the battery of survey and diagnostic Metropolitan Achievement Tests. Finds the tests to be an impressive tool for diagnosing the reading strengths and weaknesses of elementary and junior high students. (RS)

Cites the factors that influence reading rates and comprehension scores on timed speed reading tests, concluding that the reading speed achieved for any particular test or timed reading is the speed for that situation only. (RB)

Describes four types of reading tests that can be used by high school and college teachers of reading. (RB)

Before standardized reading placement and achievement tests for college admission are selected, they must be analyzed to determine what skills they measure and to what degree they correspond with reading program objectives. (Author/KS)

Suggests using the cloze procedure as a means of quickly, efficiently, and accurately matching students with appropriate reading materials. (TO)

Identifies the types of questions in standardized reading tests to reveal whether the tests cover various comprehension skills and measure students' growth in higher skills from year to year. (AEA)

Describes a dozen ways in which reading tests are at variance in their demands with the demands of reading as it occurs in everyday life. Suggests that these sources of variance render reading tests considerably less valid as measures of real world reading behavior than most people want to believe. (RS)

Describes how to construct reading comprehension test questions that are unanswerable without careful reading of an accompanying passage and provides examples of the principles explained. (RB)