(TOPS-3E:NU) Test of Problem Solving - Elementary, Third Edition Normative Update
by
Norms
Stratified by age relative to region, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors
Benefit
Assesses a school-age child’s ability to integrate semantic and linguistic knowledge with reasoning ability by way of picture stimuli and verbal responses
The TOPS-3E: NU focuses on a student’s linguistic ability to think and reason. Language competence is the verbal indicator of how a student’s language skills affect his or her ability to think, reason, problem solve, infer, classify, associate, predict, determine causes, sequence, and understand directions. The test focuses on a broad range of language-based thinking skills, including clarifying, analyzing, generating solutions, evaluating, and showing affective thinking.
While other tests may assess students’ thinking skills by tapping mathematical, spatial, or nonverbal potential, the TOPS-3E: NU measures discreet skills that form the foundation of language-based thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving ability.
Although the skills tested by the TOPS-3E: NU are necessary for developing social competence, it is not primarily a test of pragmatic or social language skills. Rather, it should be part of a battery of tests and observations used to assess pragmatic competence.
New features:
Characteristics of the normative sample were stratified by age relative to region, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors.
The Total Score was renamed the Problem Solving Index and calculated as a standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
Each item on the test was evaluated using both conventional item analysis to choose “good” items and differential item analysis to find and eliminate potentially biased items.
The index score was thoroughly examined for floor and ceiling effects.
The test was subjected to diagnostic accuracy analyses, particularly rigorous techniques involving the computation of the receiver operating characteristic/area under the curve (ROC/AUC) statistic.
The Manual was reorganized and rewritten to provide more detailed information on the administration, interpretation, and statistical characteristics of the test.
The TOPS-3E: NU focuses on a student’s linguistic ability to think and reason. Language competence is the verbal indicator of how a student’s language skills affect his or her ability to think, reason, problem solve, infer, classify, associate, predict, determine causes, sequence, and understand directions. The test focuses on a broad range of language-based thinking skills, including clarifying, analyzing, generating solutions, evaluating, and showing affective thinking.
While other tests may assess students’ thinking skills by tapping mathematical, spatial, or nonverbal potential, the TOPS-3E: NU measures discreet skills that form the foundation of language-based thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving ability.
Although the skills tested by the TOPS-3E: NU are necessary for developing social competence, it is not primarily a test of pragmatic or social language skills. Rather, it should be part of a battery of tests and observations used to assess pragmatic competence.
New features:
Characteristics of the normative sample were stratified by age relative to region, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors.
The Total Score was renamed the Problem Solving Index and calculated as a standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
Each item on the test was evaluated using both conventional item analysis to choose “good” items and differential item analysis to find and eliminate potentially biased items.
The index score was thoroughly examined for floor and ceiling effects.
The test was subjected to diagnostic accuracy analyses, particularly rigorous techniques involving the computation of the receiver operating characteristic/area under the curve (ROC/AUC) statistic.
The Manual was reorganized and rewritten to provide more detailed information on the administration, interpretation, and statistical characteristics of the test.
