Locus of control is a construct that reflects an individual's perception of control over his or her own destiny. The thesis is that people adopt either an internal or an external orientation. Internally oriented persons consider success the result of ability and effort. Externally oriented individuals attribute success to luck, fate, or powerful…

In response to a legislative requirement, Redlands Community College (RCC) initiated a requirement in 1991 for students to take the Assessment of Skills for Successful Entry and Transfer (ASSET) test. The only exemptions were for those students enrolling in fewer than 6 hours of classes and not taking either English Composition or a college-level…

In spring 1992, a mid-term assessment of English 10 students was conducted at Golden West College, in California, in order to compare four course placement methods. English 10, "Writing Essentials," is a nontransferrable course which focuses on paragraph writing and grammar review in order to prepare students for entry into English 100.…

One year before the National Education Summit, Congress had reauthorized the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and created a National Assessment Governing Board to develop and oversee policy for the NAEP. In conjunction with the call to establish national education goals, efforts are being made to establish standards for…

A 5-year longitudinal study was conducted in Illinois to follow 9,757 of the 10,273 students transferring from two-year colleges to senior colleges and universities in Illinois in fall 1979. The study sought to identify the number and mobility patterns of Illinois two-year college students; to investigate the pre-transfer characteristics of these…

Since 1985, students taking English 101, the basic composition course at Shoreline Community College (SCC) in Seattle, Washington, have been required to take the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and submit a piece of writing for holistic grading. The introduction of the testing process prompted several questions among students and faculty about what the…

In response to a mandate from the California State Legislature, the California Board of Corrections conducted a three-phase research study in preparation for the revision and standardization of the current state standards for hiring and training corrections personnel. The primary focus of the second phase of the project was on the development and…

There are both strengths and weaknesses of using standardized test scores as a criterion for admission to institutions of higher education. The relative importance of scores is dependent on the institution's degree of selectivity. In general, decision processes and admissions criteria are not well defined. Advantages of test scores include: use of…

AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING VISUAL DISCRIMINATION ABILITY WITHOUT CONFOUNDING VARIABLES OF MOTOR SKILLS HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED. TO AVOID THE EYE-HAND COORDINATION USUALLY REQUIRED ON THESE TESTS, A SELECTION, RATHER THAN A DRAWING, RESPONSE WAS DEVELOPED. THIS TEST, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES DISCRIMINATION INVENTORY (VDI), CONSISTS…

The validity of seven criteria utilized in conjunction with personal interviews and School and College Ability Test scores in the selection of applicants for admission to four Allied Health programs was investigated. The independent predictor variables studied were high school grade point average (GPA), the number of high school natural science…

The Preschool Rating Scale (PRS) consists of twenty Guttman scaled items which assess a preschool child's personal-social development. Experience gained over the past two years indicate that it can be used: (1) for screening; (2) for program evaluation; (3) as a guide to the teachers in identifying specific areas of development which may need…

Relationships between performance on two preschool administrations of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) scores at age nine were examined for a sample of 732 children. Significant correlations, ranging from .50 to .71, were obtained between readiness scores and SAT scores on reading, spelling and arithmetic.…

This report presents a thematic summary of the AERA papers dealing with test development, interpretation, and use, presented at the 1971 meeting in New York City. Papers were grouped into the following categories: test development and validation; inventory development and validation; measurement of creativity; factors in test performance; use of…

A discussion of current second language testing trends and practices in Australia focuses on the use of performance assessment, providing examples of its application in four specific contexts: an occupational English test used for to assess job-related English language skills as part of the certification procedure for health professionals;…

A study with 118 male and 87 female junior high school students in Spain using a scale developed to assess anxiety among Spanish students associated with learning a second language found a relationship between low anxiety and superior performance in the second language (English). The scale obtained predictive validity. (SLD)