The controversies surrounding the use of intelligence quotient (IQ) tests with children are summarized. This article discusses what intelligence is and how intelligence is measured. It also examines factors which can affect measurement, including examiner training or bias, examinee age, misinterpretation of test scores, and poor tests. The…

Some examinees' test-taking behavior may be so idiosyncratic that their scores are not comparable to the scores of more typical examinees. Appropriateness indices, which provide quantitative measures of response-pattern atypicality, can be viewed as statistics for testing a null hypothesis of normal test-taking behavior against an alternative…

The initial study was based on responses of 103 examinees on an objective classroom test. Results indicated that response changes increased item difficulties as well as biserial and point biserial correlations. Test reliability was not decreased. This implies that not all students benefit from changing initial responses. The personal biserial…

To discover factors which contribute to a high response rate for questionnaire surveys, the preferences of 150 college teachers and teaching assistants were studied. Four different questionnaire formats using 34 common items were sent to the subjects: open-ended; Likert-type (five points, from "strong influence to return," to…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the comprehension of 33 second grade students on a standardized test is the same whether the test is read silently or orally. The students silently read Level B, Form 1 of the "Gates MacGinitie Reading Test"; during the month that followed, individual students read Level B, Form 2, of the test orally,…

The Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) contains 100 items and 12 scales designed to assess self concept in three areas: total self esteem, self-criticism, and self-consistency. One hundred and seventeen females and three males, 75% of whom were black, attending a Work Incentive training program were administered the TSCS to examine its construct…

The multiple-choice science exercises used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress include an "I Don't Know" (IDK) alternative to estimate more accurately knowledge of groups of respondents. Group percentages of IDK responses were examined and compared with correct responses to see if the IDK introduces bias. Variance common…

The Matching Familiar Figures Test is a measure of the response style "reflection-impulsivity." The version of the test used in the longitudinal study test battery consists of two practice and 18 test items. On each item, the child is shown one standard and four comparison figures. Figures are simple line drawings done in black on a…

This brief review explains some alternate scoring procedures to the classical method of summing correct responses. The novel procedures attempt in some way to retrieve and use even the information in the wrong responses. (Author)

The highly rated television program series, "All in the Family," was used to test the relationship between attitudes espoused by televised characters and attitudes held by viewers of this type of television programing. On the basis of survey questionnaires, it was condluded that people who hold dogmatic and, especially, racist beliefs find…

Reports on a study designed to determine whether or not biology students were being disadvantaged by taking computer tests instead of written paper forms of the same tests. Results indicated that mean scores on computer-administered and written forms of the same test were approximately equivalent. (TW)

A study assessed the impact of a teacher-training workshop at Israel's Ben Gurion University's medical school which focused on classroom interaction. Results of the workshop indicated verbal teacher-student interactions significantly outnumbered individual statements; interactions increased, especially in larger classes; cognitive correspondence…

The extent of inaccuracy in student coding of race on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) forms and the effect of inaccurate coding and non-coding on results for the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools are assessed. The County maintains a database that includes each student's race as designated by the student's parent on the school registration…

Educational solutions to the problem of test anxiety were explored. Test anxiety has a debilitating effect on performance which increases over the school years. The solution is, first, to measure test anxiety so that the extent of it, as well as the effectiveness of programs designed to alleviate it, can be measured. The seven-item Comfort Index,…

This paper reports on a project which has developed the general latent class model as a framework for representation of item responses. This framework can be used to represent data in applications such as mastery tests and other kinds of achievement tests, where there is reason to believe that current foundations are deficient. Methods of…