The Standardized Test of Essential Writing Skills (STEWS) has been developed as a valid and reliable means of assessing expository writing skill. Studies concerning the reliability and validity of the STEWS are presented and their implications for use of the STEWS are discussed. (Author/DWH)

A discussion of the problems inherent in verbal test taxonomies not based on the schematic domain of logic is presented. This discussion is made in the context of syntactically complex tests. A suggested structure for a logically constructed taxonomy developed for use in a federal testing program is delineated. (Author/DWH)

An algorithm for estimation of means and standard deviations or raw scores underlying table values of standard test scores is presented. An application of a computer program, operationalizing the suggested algorithm, is discussed within the framework of a comparison of estimated and known table values for sample Minnesota Multiphasic Personality…

DICOT, a computer program for the Rasch analysis of classroom tests, is described. Results are presented in a self-explanatory form. Person ability and item difficulty estimates are expressed in a familiar metric. Person and item fit statistics provide a diagnosis of individual children and identification of problematic items. (Author/DWH)

Some problems associated with the criteria of reproducibility and scalability as they are used in Guttman scalogram analysis to evaluate cumulative, nonparametric scales of dichotomous items are discussed. A computer program is presented which analyzes response patterns elicited by dichotomous scales designed to be cumulative. (Author/DWH)

The relationship between item parameter values obtained from independent Birnbaum (l968) model calibrations of the same item set from two different samples is examined. (Author)

The degree of indeterminacy of the factor score estimates is biased and can lead to erroneous conclusion regarding the nature of the results. The magnitude of this bias is illustrated and guidelines for describing factor analytic studies using factor scores are offered. (Author/PN)

College students (n=491) were sampled to determine the extent to which attitudes toward mathematics can be viewed as reflections of other personality characteristics, as opposed to manifestations of a single underlying attitude toward mathematics. (Author/PN)

Three essay questions were administered to junior education major college students. Factor analysis of the ratings showed that content played a large role in the students' responses, yielding dominant first order factors. Generalizability theory, used to examine the reliability of students' ratings, showed the need for more raters and questions.…

This article argues that the 1981 work of Carbno presented unwarranted conclusions because its design included an improper operationalization of the object of measurement, given the problems addressed, and because the sample sizes employed were too small. (Author/PN)

An investigation of the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale-Revised hyperactivity scale found that the referents for teacher ratings should be determined, teachers' ratings should be made more objective, standardization across teachers should be demonstrated before norms are preferred, and the rating scale should be validated via observations or other…

It is argued that the tendency to omit items is a deviant response characteristic. Three studies using a self-actualization measure are outlined. Persons who omitted items did so because of fatigue, confusion with some items, unpreparedness to disclose information, and/or because they may not trust the researcher with certain information.…

A number of studies have found that essays are scored higher when preceded by poor quality scripts than when preceded by good quality scripts. This study investigated the effects of scoring procedures designed to reduce the influence of context. Context effects were found irrespective of the scoring procedure used. (Author/PN)

In this paper, tables for the appropriate sample sizes are presented and discussed in the context that the determination of the effect size must precede the determination of the sample size. (Author/PN)

This article provides unbiased estimates of the proportion of items in an item domain that an examinee would answer correctly if every item were attempted, when a closed sequential testing procedure is used. (Author)