T. Anne Cleary

An Investigation of Item Bias

a concomitant increase in concern about the applicability of widely used tests in different cultural groups. The College Entrance Examination Board, for example, has become concerned about the appropriateness of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) for some subgroups of the population, particularly Negro Americans. It is often difficult to determine what is meant by the word &dquo;bias&dquo; when it is used in reference to tests. Test &dquo;bias&dquo; is explored here in terms of individual test items. An item of a test is said to

The Development and Evaluation of Several Programmed Testing Methods.

papers (Cleary, Linn, and Rock, 1968a, 1968b). A programmed test has been defined as a test in which the presentation of test items is contingent upon the previous responses of the examinee. Although not well suited to the present paper-and-pencil technology of the testing industry, programmed tests are being made more feasible by improved use of computer hardware. The flexibility and the possibility of reduced testing time are the major appeals of programmed tests.

An Exploratory Study of Programmed Tests

a variety of situations. One approach to the reduction of testing time is through the use of &dquo;programmed tests,&dquo; which are tests based on a sequential system of branching in which a subject is directed to items appropriate to his ability level. The type of programmed tests considered here could lead to a substantial improvement in large-scale testing programs by minimizing the subject time necessary for the assessment of any one ability or skill and thus making feasible the

Sequential Testing for Dichotomous Decisions

INDIVIDUALIZATION of instruction is generally considered an important goal by both professional educators and laymen. This is true despite the frequently obscure meaning of &dquo;individualization.&dquo; In the broadest sense individualization refers to any educational adaptation to individual differences, but more specifically Cronbach (1967) has identified five basic types of adaptation ranging in instructional flexibility from altering the duration for instruction by dropping students from the educational system (or at least the main-stream academic curriculum) to tailoring the method of instruction to the individual. Tailoring the method of instruction assumes the existence of interactions between methods of instruction and levels of individual traits. Cronbach and Snow (1969) have recently reviewed the results of a number of studies designed to investigate aptitudetreatment interactions (ATI). Although the results to date are equivocal, Cronbach and Snow argue quite persuasively for the potential of this approach and the need for well-conceptualized ATI research efforts. Another type of individualization, which has received considerable attention in recent years, is probably best exemplified by the work at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center on Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI). IPI is based upon &dquo;well defined sequences of progressive, behavior-

Individual Differences in the Learning of Verbally and Pictorially Presented Paired Associates.

Current educational technology makes it possible to provide for individual differences in learning as never before. Since the introduction of branching programs for simple teaching machines (Crowder, 1960), individualized speed-sequence-content information (based on student entering behaviors and ongoing performance) is now easily incorporated into classroom instruction through the continual data processing/program modification of computerized systems. (See, for example, Suppes and Morningstar, 1969). However, despite well-founded pleas that individual abilities be given greater regard in the context of human learning (Cronbach,