Background/Context: Previous research in educational assessment has consistently emphasized the importance of reliability as a cornerstone of test quality. Traditional measures of reliability, such as test-retest and split-half reliability, offer a broad view of how internally consistent a measure is but overlook the variability in this internal…

Magnet schools have been a main tool or innovation in urban education settings in the United States, originating in the early 1970's and expanding into most large urban districts today (Blank, 1989). While some magnet schools do not rely on a specific criterion to determine entry, many do. This study focuses on such a setting where students must…

Scientific reasoning abilities are already developing in elementary-school-aged children and enable them to understand the world around them. The goal of the current study was to develop a new instrument for 8- to 10-year-old children in Grades 3 and 4 to measure their understanding of the steps of the "scientific inquiry cycle" (SIC).…

This study investigated the cognitive validity of two child English language tests. Some teachers maintain that these types of tests may be cognitively invalid because native-English-speaking children would not do well on them (Winke, 2011). So the researchers had native speakers and learners of English aged 7 to 9 take sample versions of two…

Research on scientific reasoning plays an essential role at the intersection of cognitive development and science education. As only few paper-pencil-tests exist to assess scientific reasoning abilities of elementary school children, the goal of the current study was the development of a new reliable and valid instrument. We focused on the…

The authors' purpose was to investigate the effect of origami-based instruction on elementary students' spatial ability. The students' self-reported perceptions related to the origami-based instruction were also examined. Data was collected via purposive sampling techniques from students enrolled in a private elementary school. A spatial ability…

For educators seeking to differentiate instruction, cognitive ability tests sampling multiple content domains, including verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning, provide superior information about student strengths and weaknesses compared with unidimensional reasoning measures. However, these ability tests have not been fully evaluated with…

The Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS) is a recently developed, individually administered psychometric instrument designed to measure general cognitive ability, as well as verbal (crystallized) intelligence, nonverbal (fluid) intelligence, and memory. Test reviewers have recommended the use of the RIAS despite the fact that, although…

It would appear that there is a lack of convincing evidence especially regarding the reliability of the Matching Familiar Figures test over short intervals and with older children. As the test is now being used for diagnostic purposes in education, more information is required, and here the MFF is examined in older children using a split-half…

The Children's Sex Role Inventory was tested on third, fourth, sixth, and seventh graders. Reliability was established through internal consistency of femininity and masculinity scales and stable test-retest reliabilities. Validity of the scales was evident in gender differences on both scales. (BC)

Describes a new 48-item self-report instrument, the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control, which defines children's perceptions of control as understanding the locus of sufficient cause for success and failure. Three dimensions of third- through ninth-grade children's perceptions of control are assessed within three…

The validity and reliability of the Yugoslavian (Beograd) version of the Hungarian adaptation of the Torrance Divergent Capacities Test (HAT-DAT) were tested, with a view toward improving the methodology of scoring the creative abilities test and determining standards for Yugoslavia. The test, based on the work of J. P. Guilford (1977), examines…

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), selected a nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 kindergartners in the fall of 1998 and is following these children through the end of the fifth grade. Baseline data about these children, their families, and their kindergarten programs were collected…