Covering the most important aspects of assessing adult basic readers, this collection of articles is introduced by a discussion of the purpose of resource books for adult education. The first article then examines the rationale for assessing reading ability and stresses the importance of purpose and design in assessment. The second article reviews…

To assess the impact of economic deprivation on students' reading scores in standardized tests, the vocabulary and reading comprehension portions of the California Achievement Test and the Degree of Reading Power test were admininstered to two groups of eighth grade students--60 students participating in the federal free lunch program and 60…

The oral Red Cloud Reading Test provides a complete analysis of reading level and skills for American Indian students in grades 1-7 or for high school and adult students reading at or below high school levels. The test determines the basic and recreational reading levels, identifies reading problems, determines reading speeds, and analyzes the…

This document addresses issues related to the problem that many U.S. citizens do not have literacy skills adequate to meet their needs and ambitions. The first section of the paper provides an overview of the problem, discussing how to define literacy, how it has been measured, some estimates of how many people are illiterate, who they are and…

Adult literacy programs need reliable information about program quality and effectiveness for accountability, improvement of practice, and expansion of knowledge. Evaluation and assessment reflect fundamental beliefs about adult learners, concepts of literacy, and educational settings. Resources for planning program evaluations include surveys,…

This study tested the hypothesis that there is no significant difference in reading achievement among children in grades 2 through 5 related to family structure. Researchers administered the Stanford Achievement Test to 119 students in an Alabama city suburban school system. Of the sample, 69 children lived in intact families and 50 lived in…

This paper examines remedial programs in colleges and discusses the relationship of those programs to diagnostic testing. The Basic Skills Placement Test (BSPT) is required of all College freshman in New Jersey public colleges. Mercer County Community College, used as an example throughout this paper, uses the BSPT as a basis for placing students…

A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to provide data on the basic skills performance of first-time-in-college students who graduated from area public high schools between August 1982 and September 1983 and enrolled at MDCC in fall 1983. The entering basic skills performance of students who graduated in the top 20% of their…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the relationship between the use of intonation and reading comprehension; (2) developmental and information processing factors in second and third graders'…

The proceedings of the ninth annual meeting of the College Reading Association consisted of the following papers: (1) "President's Address" (R. C. Aukerman); (2) "Planning and Implementing a College Reading Program" (M. Schleich); (3) "Reinforcement Counseling with Small Groups in Modifying Study of College Students"…

This report is designed to provide the Norwalk (Connecticut) Board of Education and the entire school community with the status of the school system testing program for the spring of 1987. From May 6 through May 15, the system administered the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBSs) and the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) to 5,113 students in…

The reading learning objectives for ninth graders contained in this volume are congruent with the Texas "State Board of Education Rules for Curriculum." These objectives and the measurement specifications are provided for use by teachers and other educators responsible for student instruction and for test development specialists involved…

Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. Following an address, by the president of the organization, on reading…

Intended for students taking the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this test booklet contains the composition component of the June 1988 tests. During 2.5 hours, students are required to perform the following writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an excerpt from Annie Dillard's "Teaching a Stone to Talk"…

This paper describes the characteristics of the Minimum Skills Diagnostic Tests (MSDTs) components of the statewide testing program in North Carolina. The MSDTs' validity, method for deriving test scores, reliability and other statistics, test content, and test norms are discussed. These tests--given in grades 3, 6, and 8--assess an individual's…