This evaluation examined school and parent reports of the national student achievement testing system (SIMCE) in Chile regarding three dimensions: access, comprehension, and use. We conducted phone surveys with a representative sample of directors (N = 375), teachers (N = 1145) and parents (N = 625), and we collected more in-depth data through…

Ethics codes are designed to protect the public by prescribing behaviors professionals are expected to exhibit. Although test use is universal, albeit reflecting strong Western influences, previous studies that examine the degree issues pertaining to test development and use and that are addressed in ethics codes of national psychological…

This study investigated secondary school students' conceptions of assessment and feedback. Five focus groups were conducted with 41 Year 9 and 10 students (equivalent to Grades 8 and 9 in other countries) from 4 diverse New Zealand schools. Students said that assessment was useful because it led to information and feedback. This information, in…

This article examines recent UK government policy and proposals relating to immigration and citizenship, and the ways in which these policies are presented as means of securing allegiance and integration. From 1997, the incoming Labour government emphasized the importance of informed, active citizenship and social justice. From 2001, the emphasis…

This article is concerned with the relationship between assessment information and teacher planning. In the UK, although planning used to be central to characterizations of formative assessment, the most recent government proclamations under the Assessment for Learning banner offer no clear role for teachers making decisions about what to do based…

Drug Misuse Scale (DMS) and Substance Abuse Proclivity Scale (SAPS), both of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, were compared using adolescent sample used to develop the DMS. Found that the SAP scale could not discriminate between different levels of drug use in this nontreatment sample. Concluded that DMS may be superior at…

Describes Berufsbildertest, or Vocational Pictures Technique (VPT), technique constructed on theory that behaviors of choice are evoked by eight different factors of human needs or inclinations: softness, power, social conscience, show, reason, mind or spirit, matter, and orality. Explains usefulness of test in career counseling and presents…

Confirmatory factor analyses of the third edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) using the Canadian normative sample (n=1,100 children) were conducted to verify the four-factor model found in the U.S. normative sample. Results paralleled those of the U.S. sample and support use of the WISC-III factor indexes. (SLD)

Studied the use of SERVPEFR the performance component of the Service Quality Scale (SERVQUAL) in 2 studies involving 113 and 212 customers of businesses in Australia and investigated a revised (extended) version of SERVPEFR with 122 customers. Results suggest that SERVPEFR items are too easy to rate highly, and that the revisions did not overcome…

The validity of public examinations as measures of academic achievement is not perfect, and the generalizability of paper-and-pencil tests to real-life tasks is rather low. In the United Kingdom, small differences between levels of attainment on public examinations cannot be attributed to real differences in achievement. The comparability of…

Discusses criticisms of international educational studies and describes ways in which such studies can be used advantageously for diagnosis, identification of "what works," and monitoring and accountability. Presents examples of these categories of use. (SLD)

Studied the attitudes of senior school board officials in Canada to the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP), a national assessment of achievement of 13- and 16-year-olds. Responses of 147 board officials show general support for the SAIP, although most respondents believe it has little positive impact on classroom assessment. (SLD)

Scores of 111 Australian and 145 British vocational instructors on the Smith Whetton Critical Reading Test (CRT) showed no significant differences. The CRT's construct validity was supported; it was shown to be a useful tool for demonstrating problematic aspects of the concept of thinking skills. (SK)

The validity of a higher order factorial structure of a Bulgarian version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (A. Beck et al, 1961) for nonclinical adolescents was studied with 3 samples totaling 691. Findings yielded strong support for the hypothesized second-order factor, adding to a growing cross-cultural agglomerate of construct validity…

Introduction: The pharmaceutical industry, by funding over 60% of programs in the United States and Canada, plays a major role in continuing medical education (CME), but there are concerns about bias in such CME programs. Bias is difficult to define, and currently no tool is available to measure it. Methods: Representatives from industry and…