Previous research has documented schemes and operations that undergird students' understanding of fractions. This prior research was based, in large part, on small-group teaching experiments. However, written assessments are needed in order for teachers and researchers to assess students' ways of operating on a whole-class scale. In this study,…

Much has already been written on the controversies surrounding the use of different test theories in educational assessment. Other authors have noted the prevalence of classical test theory over item response theory in practice. This Special Issue draws together articles based upon work conducted on the Reliability Programme for England's…

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure for use in assessing musical behaviors of preschool children in the context of regular music instruction and to determine the validity and the reliability of the measure. The Early Childhood Musical Behavior Measure (ECMBM) was constructed for use with preschool-aged children to measure their…

The Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE) described here is an eight-item observational assessment that prompts the observation and recording of signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The AMSE is intended to take place seamlessly in the context of a clinical exam and produces a total score. Subjects were independently…

Introduction: The Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) format appears to mitigate individual rater biases. However, the format itself may introduce structural systematic bias, favoring extroverted personality types. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of these biases from the perspective of the interviewer. Methods: A sample of MMI…

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP), an observation measure designed to assess the quality of classroom practices in inclusive preschool programs. The measure was field tested in 51 inclusive classrooms. Results confirmed and extended previous research findings, providing…

Caregivers of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) often describe the quality of the daily movements of these persons in terms of flexibility or stiffness. Objective outcome measures for flexibility and stiffness are muscle tone or level of spasticity. Two instruments used to grade muscle tone and spasticity are the…

The Emotional and Behavioral Screener (EBS) is a universal screening instrument designed to identify students whose excessive problem behaviors put them at risk of the education disability category of emotional disturbance (ED). This article reports findings from three studies that address the reliability and validity of the EBS. Studies 1 and 2…

Language assessment literacy refers to language instructors' familiarity with testing definitions and the application of this knowledge to classroom practices in general and specifically to issues related to assessing language. While it is widely agreed that classroom teachers need to assess student progress, many teachers and other test…

Peer grading affords a scalable and sustainable way of providing assessment and feedback to a massive student population, and has been used in massive open online courses (MOOCs) on the Coursera platform. However, currently there is little empirical evidence to support the credentials of peer grading as a learning assessment method in the MOOC…

The purpose of this study was to design and validate the Basketball Offensive Game Performance Instrument (BOGPI) that assesses an individual player's offensive game performance competency in basketball. Twelve physical education teacher education (PETE) students playing two 10-minute, 3 vs. 3 basketball games were videotaped at end of a…

Few studies have explored the subjective mental health of adolescents with intellectual disabilities, while proxy ratings indicate an overrepresentation of mental health problems. The present study reports on the design and an initial empirical evaluation of the Well-being in Special Education Questionnaire (WellSEQ). Questions, response scales,…

The objective of this prospective study was to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Functional Assessment Measure (FAM) into Brazilian Portuguese, and to assess the test-retest reliability. The instrument was translated, back-translated, pretested, and reviewed by a committee. The Brazilian version was assessed in 61 brain-injury patients.…

Background: Many in education argue for the importance of incorporating teacher judgements in the assessment and reporting of student performance. Advocates of such an approach are cognisant, though, that obtaining a satisfactory level of consistency in teacher judgements poses a challenge. Purpose: This study investigates the extent to which the…

The field interrater reliability of three assessment tools frequently used by mental health professionals when evaluating sex offenders' risk for reoffending--the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R) and the Static-99--was examined within the context of sexually violent predator…