Purpose: The purpose of the study was to empirically test items of a new measure designed to assess person-directed care (PDC) practices in long-term care. Design and Methods: After reviewing the literature, we identified five areas related to PDC: personhood, comfort care, autonomy, knowing the person, and support for relationships. We also…

The suitability of 52 items for measuring Blackboard course management system success was investigated with the aim of validating the Blackboard CMS success scale in an educational context. Through a survey, the Blackboard course management system (BCMS) success scale was administered to 503 students at the University of Botswana. Data collected…

This study examined the effect of linguistic modification on middle school students' ability to show what they know and can do on math assessments. REL West's study on middle school math assessment accommodations found that simplifying the language--or linguistic modification--on standardized math test items made it easier for English Language…

The relationship between stratified alpha (alpha-sub(s)) and the reliability of a test composed of interrelated nonhomogeneous items is examined. It is mathematically demonstrated that when there is congeneric equivalence within the strata or subtests, the difference between the coefficients is a function of the variances of the loadings within…

Examinations--among other things--are tools of quality control by which we can measure the attainment of the national educational goals. High-quality examinations are means of evaluation that can help teachers modify their teaching techniques, as well as helping learners adjust their learning strategies. Examinations are also benchmarks that can…

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 Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (GARS-2) is a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders for individuals between the ages of 3 and 22. It was designed to help differentiate those with autism from those with severe behavioral disorders as well as from those who are typically developing. It is a norm-referenced instrument that…

The success of early intervention programs has in large part spurred increasing emphasis on identifying children with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) at the earliest possible ages. National and international professional groups have called for early screening and diagnosis, yet the technology to…

This study examined for the first time the test-retest reliability of theory-of-mind tasks when administered to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A total of 16 questions within 9 tasks targeting a range of content and complexity were administered at 2 times to 17 children with ASD. In all, 13 questions demonstrated adequate…

Objectives: This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a culturally relevant and responsive approach to screening for perinatal depression in low-income, predominantly African American women. Method: The study details the development of the community-informed instrument and subsequent evaluation of its psychometric…

This article examines the psychometric structure of the Anxiety Control Questionnaire (ACQ) in Chinese adolescents. With the data collected from 212 senior high school students (94 females, 110 males, 8 unknown), seven models are tested using confirmatory factor analyses in the framework of the multitrait-multimethod strategy. Results indicate…

This study sought to explore factors that affect the accessibility of reading comprehension assessments for students with disabilities. The study consisted of testing students using reading comprehension passages that were broken down into shorter "segments" or "chunks." The results of the segmenting study indicated that: (a)…

This study aims to determine prospective science student teachers' alternative conceptions of the chemical equilibrium concept. A 13-item pencil and paper, two-tier multiple choice diagnostic instrument, the Test to Identify Students' Alternative Conceptions (TISAC), was developed and administered to 90 second-semester science student teachers…

This article shows that measurement invariance (defined in terms of an invariant measurement model in different groups) is generally inconsistent with selection invariance (defined in terms of equal sensitivity and specificity across groups). In particular, when a unidimensional measurement instrument is used and group differences are present in…

This article introduces a multinomial error model, which models an examinee's test scores obtained over repeated measurements of an assessment that consists of polytomously scored items. A compound multinomial error model is also introduced for situations in which items are stratified according to content categories and/or prespecified numbers of…