Whenever a major intelligence or achievement test is revised, there is always renewed interest in the underlying structure of the test as well as a renewed interest in the scoring, administration, and interpretation changes. In this interview, Amy Gabel discusses the most recent revision of the "Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth…

Finds that the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty is difficult to administer and interpret, takes considerable time to give, and is not comprehensive. (FL)

Suggests that there are major issues involved in using criterion-referenced reading tests that are unclear or unresolved, including their place in the system of teaching reading, their validity, their reliability, and how cut-off scores are set and evaluated. (TJ)

Notes that, while the test is not recommended for children at the lower and extreme upper levels, it does provide a valid and reliable measure of some of the abilities that may be involved in the reading behaviors of five- and six-year-old children. (FL)

Discusses, for the benefit of research workers and other test users, the ongoing controversy concerning the relative merits of conventional test theory and Rasch scaling in the construction of reading tests. Concludes that a great deal of further research is required to see whether these approaches are educationally valid. (JD)

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)

Examines the controversy surrounding the administration of the Metropolitan Achievement Test on reading and the subsequent recall of the results data by the chancellor of the New York City schools. (IRT)

Refutes Leslie MacLean and Harvey Goldstein's charges (in the January 1988 "Kappan") that the National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Proficiency Scale is based on a single assumption (reading proficiency) accounting for responses to all reading tasks. Characterizes the scale as developmental, with points corresponding to…

Rebuffs Leslie Maclean and Harvey Goldstein's claims that the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Proficiency Scale is unidimensional. Critics' confusion may stem from failing to separate what a test measures from a score's usefulness. The Lexile Reading Scale should be integrated with the NAEP scale. Includes eight…

Reading instruction can be transformed into cynical test-beating exercises. Victory arises from frequent practice in taking similar tests. Students who spend most of their time on test-type activities generally do better on reading tests than those who "waste" time reading for information or pleasure. Teachers whose students score highest on…

Past reading research suggests that measures of reading comprehension should be made context dependent. Reading comprehension test questions that are context dependent are best answered by examinees only after the accompanying passages have been read. Recently, there has been some disagreement concerning the exact importance of context dependence…

Reports an overall positive response to the tests reviewed, with caveats regarding test reliability and validity. (AEA)

Finds a number of problems with the test and concludes that there is little real advantage to using it in preference to other published informal reading inventories now available. (FL)

Concludes that the test has basic problems in construction, interpretation, validity, and reliability. (FL)

The FRI and GORT tests are reviewed with attention to test rationales and purposes, test development, test administration, and making the purchase choice. Concludes that the FRI is the preferable test. (JK)