Background and Aims: A literature review of both Eastern and Western literature regarding families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) revealed limited empirical research that examines ASD in China. Furthermore, most research in this area comes from a deficit model and there is a lack of research that comes from a strengths background.…

School climate measurement is a long-standing topic in educational research. This review article provides an overview and appraisal of school climate measures published between 2003 and 2013 in scientific journals. A search for published school climate instruments for secondary school students was made in three databases. Twelve articles meeting…

In the past several years, numerous educational climate instruments and questionnaires have been developed. One such instrument is the Charles F. Kettering (CFK) School Climate Profile, a popular measure of school climate that is widely used to gather data for administrative planning and curriculum revision. The instrument is patterned on the…

Families (n=725) with young children with disabilities completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and their scores were compared with the PSI's normative sample. No differences were found between samples on parent-related stress, supporting the normality or family strengths perspective. A normative table of PSI scores for families with children…

To facilitate science teachers' use of classroom climate assessments, economical short forms of the Classroom Environment Scale, Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire, and My Class Inventory were developed. Each instrument contains only 25 items and is amenable to easy hand scoring. Developmental procedures, reliability, validity, and…

Data from the Family Needs Survey, provided by 53 mothers of young children with disabilities, were subject to both classical test theory analyses and factor analysis. Results suggest that the Family Needs Survey yields reasonably valid data regarding family needs. (Author/JDD)

Although the effects of occupational or work stress have received considerable attention in recent years, few studies have attempted to systematically measure the construct. Prior to this study, Scale 1 of the Work Stress Inventory was developed to measure three indices: (1) appraised stress; (2) frequency of stressful situations; and (3)…

Describes the development of a questionnaire that measures teachers' perceptions of eight aspects of a school environment. Discusses the theory base and predecessors of this instrument, the criteria and process used to develop it, its validation, and its application so far. The 56 questionnaire items are appended. (MCG)

Traditionally, coping and adaptation have been considered synonymous in individual's responses to illness and other stressful situations. The Illness Adaptation Scale (IAS) is a 12-item instrument which was designed to assess adaptational outcomes in illness situations as well as four coping modes (instrumental-self oriented, instrumental-other…

A three-step assessment and quantification procedure is described that determines the goodness-of-fit (congruence) between a person's behavioral capabilities and setting-specific performance requirements. Concurrent validity and correlational data are presented, as well as potential uses of the Goodness-of-Fit Index (GOFI) procedure. (Author/JW)

The Classroom Environment Scale, revised for use in special education classrooms, was administered to students in 79 special education classrooms in 16 residential and day treatment schools. Psychometric analyses showed that seven of the nine aspects of the classroom found in the original scale were reliably reported in special education…

While controlling for overall intellectual level, this study assessed the interpersonal problem-solving skills of 150 families via written tests and behavioral performances. Interrelationships between written and behavioral interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills were examined, as were the relationships of each problem-solving measure to…

The usefulness and validity of the 3 versions (Infant-Toddler, Early Childhood, and Middle Childhood) of the HOME Inventory were studied with 261 children with cognitive, hearing, vision, or orthopedic handicaps. The Inventory in its original form and a modified form was subjected to analysis of reliability, construct validity, and criterion…

The construct validity of the adapted version of the "Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Short Form" was examined with 103 mothers of children with mild to severe developmental disabilities, aged 0-38. Results revealed that the questionnaire appears to be a valid, efficient, and effective measure of stress. (Author/JDD)

In this research, some alternative high schools were evaluated in terms of both students' perceptions of classroom environment and teachers' perceptions of school environment. A sample of 742 students in 62 classes in alternative and conventional schools responded to the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory's seven scales…