For too long, performance measurement systems in education have failed to document and recognize real differences among educators. But a recent national push to use performance evaluations for critical personnel decisions has highlighted the shortcomings of the current systems and increased the urgency to dramatically improve them. As state and…

This report describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). Part I describes a classification extension to the SDCS to differentiate motor speech disorders from speech delay and to differentiate among three sub-types of motor speech disorders.…

There is a degree of instability in any measurement, so that if it is repeated, it is possible that a different result may be obtained. Such instability, generally described as "measurement error", may affect the conclusions drawn from an investigation, and methods exist for allowing it. It is less widely known that different disciplines, and…

This article reports on a study of the validity and reliability of tests administered in an EFL university setting. The study addresses the question of how well face validity reflects more objective measures of the quality of a test, such as predictive validity and reliability. According to some researchers, face validity, defined as the surface…

The primary goals of this project were to develop a reliable instrument to measure the chemistry course perceptions (CCP) of undergraduate chemistry students and to determine the predictors of CCP of undergraduate students as they enter their first college chemistry class. In a pilot study, 250 undergraduate students were solicited with 57…

The Merlino-Perkins Father-Daughter Relationship Inventory, a self-report instrument, assesses women's childhood interactions with supportive, doting, distant, controlling, tyrannical, physically abusive, absent, and seductive fathers. Item and scale development, psychometric findings drawn from factor analyses, reliability assessments, and…

To provide educators with the data they need to improve student achievement, states must have more than a series of one-time snapshots of student performance. They need a system that collects high-quality data about how individual students are doing over time, from prekindergarten through 12th grade and into postsecondary education. This…

Most experts in the testing community have presumed that the $350 million promised by the U.S. Department of Education to support common assessments would promote those that made greater use of open-ended items capable of measuring higher-order critical-thinking skills. But as measurement experts consider the multitude of possibilities for an…

The supervisor-doctoral student interpersonal relationship is important for the success of a PhD-project. Therefore, information about doctoral students' perceptions of their relationship with their supervisor can be useful for providing detailed feedback to supervisors aiming at improving the quality of their supervision. This paper describes the…

Peer assessment is an arrangement for learners to consider and specify the level, value, or quality of a product or performance of other equal-status learners. Products to be assessed can include writing, oral presentations, portfolios, test performance, or other skilled behaviors. Peer assessment can be summative or formative. A formative view is…

This paper serves as an illustration of the usefulness of structurally incomplete designs as an approach to reduce the length of educational questionnaires. In structurally incomplete test designs, respondents only fill out a subset of the total item set, while all items are still provided to the whole sample. The scores on the unadministered…

The primary function of an evaluation is often to assess the degree of success of a program or to collect information that may be used to improve a program, product, or service. To meet an evaluation's goals and objectives by using an online survey, it is imperative that the questionnaire contain valid and reliable items asked about specific…

The "World Report on Children and Violence", (Pinheiro, 2006) was produced at the request of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly. This report recommended improvement in research on child abuse. ISPCAN representatives took this charge and developed 3 new instruments. We describe this background and introduce three new measures…

Research supports the connection between engagement, achievement, and school behavior across levels of economic and social advantage and disadvantage. Despite increasing interest and scientific findings, a number of interrelated conceptual and methodological issues must be addressed to advance this construct, particularly for designing…

The GED[R] English as a Second Language (GED ESL) Test was designed to serve as an adjunct to the GED test battery when an examinee takes either the Spanish- or French-language version of the tests. The GED ESL Test is a criterion-referenced, multiple-choice instrument that assesses the functional, English reading skills of adults whose first…