What really works in alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards? Every state is working to know the answer--both to comply with federal requirements for evaluating students with severe cognitive disabilities, and to ensure that all students reach their full potential. This comprehensive book is the first to gather today's best…

Abikoff, Gittelman-Klein, and Klein validated a behavioral observation system for use with hyperactive children. Authors selected a used coding system, trained observers to monitor classroom behavior of hyperactive children, and evaluated reliability, stability, and criterion-related validity of the system. Methodology was reviewed. Suggestions…

For lower-achieving students with disabilities, effective and appropriate alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) can open the door to greater expectations and opportunities. State policymakers have the option of providing certain students who have disabilities with AA-MAS aligned with grade-level content--and now…

Results indicate that short forms of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory may not be accurate substitutes for the standard form in predicting objective measures of psychopathology. Newmark et al, however, reassert their findings that short forms are indeed accurate substitutes. (Author/BEF)

The importance of student assessment, particularly for summative purposes, has increased greatly over the past thirty years. At the same time, emphasis on including all students in assessment programs has also increased. Assessment programs, whether they are large-scale, district-based, or teacher developed, have traditionally attempted to assess…

The chapters of this volume traces the changes in the discipline of qualitative inquiry over the last five decades. The collection serves as a textbook for training scholars in the history and trajectory of qualitative research. The chapters of part 1, The Revolution of Representation: Feminist and Race/Ethnic Studies Discourses, are: (1) Situated…

This is a unique and groundbreaking collection of questions and answers coming from higher education institutions on diverse fields and across a wide spectrum of countries and cultures. It creates routes for further innovation, collaboration amidst the Sciences (both Natural and Social), the Humanities, and the private and public sectors of…

Educational assessment and, more broadly, educational research in the United States have entered into an era characterized by a dramatic increase in the prevalence and importance of test score use in accountability systems. This volume covers a selection of contemporary issues about testing science and practice that impact the nation's public…

This research project addresses the validity of assessments used to measure the performance of English language learners (ELLs), such as those mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002). The goals of the research are to help educators understand and improve ELL performance by investigating the validity of their current…

Thirteen papers are presented that discuss issues in public personnel decision making, specifically in the area of personnel selection. After an introduction by James P. Springer, the following papers are presented: (1) "History of Employment Testing" (Matthew Hale); (2) "Job Families: A Review and Discussion of Their Implications for Personnel…

Of the 15 substantive papers in this report, 12 focus on the use of the Kent Infant Development (KID) Scale with severely handicapped children. The KID Scale measures 252 behaviors usually developed during the first year of life in five domains (cognitive, motor, language, self-help, and social). It was successfully adapted to elicit reliable…

Six papers explore applications/implications of the unity thesis in discrete areas of educational research. The unity thesis argues that knowledge is all of a piece and allows for methodological diversity in educational research. Topics include a coherentist validity theory; policy analysis; hermeneutics; meta-analysis; and coherentist empiricism…

Concludes that there is no evidence for differential validity in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) between racial subgroups and that black norms for the MMPI are premature. Criticism of these findings is also presented. (Author/BEF)

This text explains the phenomenon of facilitated communication (FC) from an empirical, data-based, and/or clinical perspective. It is not a how-to-facilitate text, but one that explores the clinical and sociological reality of FC. A common theme running through each of the papers in the book is the question of FC's legitimacy. The papers reveal…

Six monographs on the Rasch model are summarized. The first gives a historical perspective on the application of the Rasch model in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The remaining papers summarize research on the Rasch model. The research in Monograph II lead to the conclusion that random samples are not needed to calibrate item levels in…