A Parent's Workshop on Vocational Choice was conducted to stimulate thought and dialogue about career choice between secondary school students and their parents. Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) was administered to students and their parents. Student responses were compared to their parents' predictions of their responses. A…

The U. S. Employment Service conducts a test-research program for developing testing tools useful in vocational counseling. This article outlines the organization, underlying concepts, accomplishments, and current efforts of the test-research program. (Author)

An interest questionnaire with 72 university course descriptions based on a facet design was used to determine whether computer anxiety or computer disinterest was related to interest in or willingness to take selected courses of 200 Belgian and German students. Analysis of variance supports conclusions from the multidimensional scalings. (SLD)

The attitudes about mathematics held by girls and boys participating in a regional mathematics contest, their parents, teachers, and mathematics coaches were investigated. Quantitative data regarding mathematics as a male domain, perception of importance of mathematics, confidence in learning mathematics, effectance motivation, and usefulness of…

Socioemotional selectivity and gerotranscendence, newer theories with roots in the disengagement theory of aging, provided the theoretical framework for a new measure of perceived change in investment in a variety of pursuits. The 30-item Change in Activity and Interest Index (CAII) was given to a sample of 327 outpatients aged 65-94. Items with…

This paper reports the results of a study into the conditions that facilitate the implementation of instructional innovations. One hundred seventy-nine participants completed an online instrument designed to determine the relative importance of eight conditions shown to facilitate implementation. This paper describes the construction and testing…

The fit of J. L. Holland's (1959, 1997) RIASEC model to U.S. racial-ethnic groups was assessed using circular unidimensional scaling. Samples of African American, Asian American, Caucasian American and Hispanic American high school students and employed adults who completed either the UNIACT Interest Inventory (K. B. Swaney, 1995) or the Strong…

Test instruments designed for limited English proficient (LEP) students from pre-school through adult are reviewed in this annotated bibliography. The assessments cited have been evaluated for reliability, validity, and equity, the latter being an emerging criterion in the process of evaluating assessment instruments. The tests most commonly used…

Characteristics of the gifted and ideas for working effectively with gifted students are presented in this guide for teachers. A list of behavioral traits exhibited by gifted students precedes a discussion of the myth that gifted individuals can be expected to perform perfectly in all areas of endeavor. Included in a discussion of learning…

The controversy over what divergent thinking tests measure was addressed by conducting a study of the relationship between divergent thinking and vocational interests. Forty-one above-average fifth graders were administered Pattern and Line Meanings a year before they took the American College Testing Program (ACT) Interest Inventory. Divergent…

The history of divergent-thinking tests suggests that new approaches to creativity testing are needed. Research has focused on the relation of creativity to insight, divergent problem solving, problem finding, and intelligence. A proposed situational model of creativity defines creativity as a meaningful response to open-problem, open-solution…

A study was done to explore the feasibility of developing a set of activity preference (interest) scales corresponding to twenty-two second (higher) order work dimensions derived from the Occupation Analysis Inventory (OAI). (The OAI is an instrument containing 622 work elements which are descriptions of work activities and conditions on which…

Research on career development has shown sex differences in patterns of occupational choices and labor force participation. Test takers of career interest inventories and occupational tests may perceive adult roles differently if they are male or female; thus, these perceptions are critical to any attempt to reduce sex bias in testing. High school…

Northern Kentucky University has implemented a proficiency testing program to screen candidates for admission to the teacher education program. When students are at the sophomore level, four tests are administered: (1) reading proficiency, measured by the Iowa Silent Reading Test; (2) writing proficiency; (3) speech and listening proficiency; and…

A large sample of entering freshmen men and women at the Pennsylvania State University completed the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS) during orientation. The instrument's 34 scores together with SAT math and verbal scores were analyzed in a stepwise discriminant function procedure with groups defined by the students' initial choice of…