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Augmentation procedures are designed to provide better estimates for a given test or subtest through the use of collateral information. The main purpose of this dissertation was to use Haberman's and Wainer's augmentation procedures on a large-scale, standardized achievement test to understand the relationship between reliability and correlation that exist to create the proportional reduction of mean squared error (PRMSE) statistic and to compare the practical effects of Haberman's augmentation procedure with the practical effects of Wainer's augmentation procedure. In this dissertation, Haberman's and Wainer's augmentation procedures were used on a data set that consisted of a large-scale, standardized achievement test with tests in three different content areas, reading, language arts, and mathematics, in both 4th and 8th grade. Each test could be broken down into different content area subtests, between two and five depending on the content area. The data sets contained between 2,500 and 3,000 examinees for each test. The PRMSE statistic was used on the all of the data sets to evaluate two augmentation procedures, one proposed by Haberman and one by Wainer. Following the augmentation analysis, the relationship between the reliability of the subtest to be augmented and that subtest's correlation with the rest of the test was investigated using a pseudo-simulated data set, which consisted of different values for those variables. Lastly, the Haberman and Wainer augmentation procedures were used on the data sets and the augmented data was analyzed to determine the magnitude of the effects of using these augmentation procedures. The main findings based on the data analysis and pseudo-simulated data analysis were as follows: (1) the more questions the better the estimates and the better the augmentation procedures; (2) there is virtually no difference between the Haberman and Wainer augmentation procedures, except for certain correlational relationships; (3) there is a significant effect of using the Haberman or Wainer augmentation procedures, however as the reliability increases, this effect lessens. The limitations of the study and possible future research are also discussed in the dissertation.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prominent neurobehavioral disorders of childhood that is heavily researched and often revised. Deficits in attention/concentration, impulsivity, inhibition, information processing speed, working memory and executive functioning manifest differently according to subtype diagnosis for both children and adults. As a result, previous attempts to construct a unifying theory of ADHD with neural correlates and quantifiable performance discrepancies have resulted in a proliferation of literature reviews citing both significant and insignificant research findings. The purpose of the current study was to construct a homogenous sample of children diagnosed with ADHD and examine purported subtype differences in working memory and information processing speed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children - Forth Edition (WISC-IV). Sixty participants were selected from archival data from two clinical sites and separated into three groups according to the current DSM-IV-TR ADHD subtype criteria: ADHD Predominately Inattentive type (ADHD-IN), ADHD Predominately Hyperactive/Impulsive type (ADHD-HY), and ADHD Combined type (ADHD-C). Significant differences within groups were revealed on the Coding subtest and Processing Speed Index (PSI) relative to performance on the Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI). No significant between groups or interaction effects were revealed. While the goal of the current study was aimed at discovering evidence of greater deficits in processing speed by the ADHD-IN group compared to the other two groups, processing speed was reduced for the entire sample providing more evidence of a possible neurological deficit/basis inherent to ADHD. The results of the current study provided minimal evidence of differences on WISC-IV measures of working memory within the current sample. The current study was successful in correcting previous methodological flaws inherent in the relevant literature by constructing a truly homogenous sample of ADHD and provided strong evidence for the necessity of an accurate diagnosis of ADHD subtypes.

This study was concerned with testing two hypotheses frequently made in the interpretation of performance on the Children's Scale. The first hypothesis is that maladjustment is directly related to the amount of scatter and the second stresses that the specificity of maladjustment may be determined by the pattern of successes and failures.

The effect on childrens' scores of different item formats used in standardized mathematics achievement tests was investigated. Second grade students were given a mathematics computation test using formats derived from five standardized achievement tests. Identical content was tested with each format . Differences in test scores between types r0f formats were statistically significant at p(.001 (F = 45.25). These results indicate that what a student appears to know is substantially influenced by the format of the particualar test used in measuring achievement. These differences are not accounted for by the rno~mative scaling of the different tests. Greater attention should be ~i,en to the effect of test item format in selecting and administering cac1 i evemen t tests.

The topic of this thesis are problematic types of test items in the listening sub test of the didactic test of common part of Maturita school - leaving exam in French language. Introductory chapter of the theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the description of Maturita school-leaving exam, its origin and contemporary model. The following chapters deal with characteristics of the didactic test, its parts and individual test items. These chapters also provide a description of the examined sample, concise characteristics of grammar schools (Gymnasiums) where the research was conducted, and introduces the analytical tools which were used when examining the listening subtest in French language. On the basis of students' answers the most difficult test items of the sub test were pinpointed. KEYWORDS: didactic test, listening sub test, French language, Maturita school-leaving exam, state high school leaving exam, test item

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