This article presents a review of the "Process Assessment of the Learner-Second Edition" (PAL-II), an individual or group-administered instrument designed to assess the cognitive processes involved in academic tasks in kindergarten through sixth grade. The instrument allows the examiner to identify reasons for underachievement and…

This article presents a review of the "Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition" (WAIS-IV), an individually administered measure of cognitive ability for individuals aged 16 years, 0 months to 90 years, 11 months. The WAIS-IV was designed with a number of specific goals including updated norms, increased user friendliness,…

The Woodcock Johnson III Brief Assessment is a "maximum performance test" (Reynolds, Livingston, Willson, 2006) that is designed to assess the upper levels of knowledge and skills of the test taker using both power and speed to obtain a large amount of information in a short period of time. The Brief Assessment also provides an adequate…

The Wide Range Achievement Test-Fourth Edition (WRAT4) is designed to provide "a quick, simple, psychometrically sound assessment of academic skills". The test was first published in 1946 by Joseph F. Jastak, with the purpose of augmenting the cognitive performance measures of the Wechsler-Bellevue Scales, developed by David Wechsler.…

This article presents a review of the Children's Measure of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms (CMOCS), a self-report screening measure of obsessive and compulsive thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents aged 8 through 19 years. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is estimated to affect 1% to 3% of the population over their lifetime. The…

This article provides a review of Roberts-2, an individually administered narrative measure published by Western Psychological Services. Roberts-2 is a substantial revision of the earlier version of this measure, the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC; McArthur & Roberts, 1982). Roberts-2 is composed of 16 stimulus cards that direct…

This article provides a review of the Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV), a general cognitive ability assessment tool for individuals' aged 4 year 0 months through 21 years 11 months with English language and/or communicative limitations. The test targets a population whose performance on intelligence batteries might be compromised by…

With the recently passed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), federal law encourages monitoring student progress and gauging responsiveness to instruction. The Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Hammill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004) is a group-administered test that holds promise for monitoring student progress.…

Discusses rationale, reliability, factorial validity, and educational usefulness of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. The I.T.P.A. is a serious attempt to identify specific sensory processing abilities. (Author)

Identifying, acquiring, and developing valid and reliable instruments are major problems facing researchers who study psychosocial drug use and abuse. Much time is often devoted to creating a measuring device when an adequate one already exists, resulting in duplication of effort, considerable waste of resources, and loss of uniform comparability…