In this article, A. Adrienne Walker introduces the concept of person fit to education stakeholders as a source of evidence to inform the trustworthiness of a test score for interpretation and use (validity). Person fit analyses are used in educational measurement research to explore the degree to which a person's test score can be interpreted as a…

Sensory processing abnormalities in autism have largely been described by parent report. This study used a multi-method (parent-report and measurement), multi-trait (tactile sensitivity and attention) design to evaluate somatosensory processing in ASD. Results showed multiple significant within-method (e.g., parent report of different…

Background: A large body of survey-based research asserts that the quality and strength of student-teacher relationships (STRs) predict a host of academic and nonacademic outcomes; however, advances in survey design research have led some to question existing survey instruments' psychometric soundness. Concurrently, qualitative research on STRs…

Even though there are four English language skills in the Indonesia's national curriculum at upper secondary schools, each of these skills is given an unequal emphasis since only reading and listening skills are formally tested in the national examination. Although writing competence possesses a particular stake as the determinant of students'…

Based on analyses of Maclean's ranking data pertaining to Canadian universities published over the last 24 years, we present a summary of statistical findings of annual ranking exercises, as well as discussion about their current status and the effects upon student welfare. Some illustrative tables are also presented. Using correlational and…

The results of large-scale international assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have attracted a considerable attention worldwide and are often used by policy-makers to support educational policies. To ensure that the published results represent the actual population, these surveys go through a thorough scrutiny…

This article proposes that sampling design effects have potentially huge unrecognized impacts on the results reported by large-scale district and state assessments in the United States. When design effects are unrecognized and unaccounted for they lead to underestimating the sampling error in item and test statistics. Underestimating the sampling…

Standardizing aspects of assessments has long been recognized as a tactic to help make evaluations of examinees fair. It reduces variation in irrelevant aspects of testing procedures that could advantage some examinees and disadvantage others. However, recent attention to making assessment accessible to a more diverse population of students…

The proliferation of instruments reporting learning/cognitive style with school pupils is of particular interest, because most research on them focuses on applications in higher education, training and the adult workplace, where criticisms of their integrity, reliability and validity have been significant. This study examines two such popular…

The inclusion of young children with disabilities has remained a function of the Head Start program since its inception in the 1960s when the United States Congress mandated that children with disabilities comprise 10% of the Head Start enrollment (Zigler & Styfco, 2000). Standardized, norm-referenced tests used to identify children with…

Used computer simulation to examine the reliability of interpretations for Kaufman's "intelligent testing" approach to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.) (WISC-III). Findings indicate that factor index-score differences and other measures could not be interpreted with confidence. Argues that limitations of IQ testing…

Examines the reliability and validity of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Results based on 2,078 clients at 31 university counseling centers who completed the BSI at intake indicate that, although internal consistency for the subscales was high, factor analyses yielded a six-factor solution rather than a nine-factor one. (RJM)

A procedure is proposed for determining whether correlations obtained between two measures justify the assumption that the measures are identical. It is intended especially for small samples. In the example, the performance scales of two intelligence tests were administered to 32 deaf adolescents. (GDC)

A study examined the interrelationships among the Listening Practices Feedback Report (LPFR) items to determine if an underlying theoretical construct of listening perceptions are measured by the LPFR. As part of LPFR listening training sessions, LPFR respondent and associate(s) scores were gathered from several major companies and organizations.…

Conducted national consumer survey of preschool psychologists (n=185) regarding treatment and social validity of early intelligence tests for preschoolers with developmental deficits (n=7,223). Results demonstrated that early intelligence tests failed to be acceptable tools 43% of time and failed to document eligibility of over 3,000 young…