The effects of providing total and partial immediate feedback to pupils in multiple choice testing was investigated with fifth and sixth grade pupils. The split-half reliability was higher with total feedback than with no feedback. Concurrent validity with a completion test showed all three settings to be nearly identical. (Author/JKS)

In evaluating the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test (a test for assessing expressive and receptive grammar in preschool and primary age children), the author points out problems with the test norms, reliability, and validity. (SBH)

The author responds to W. Arndt's criticisms of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test, a test for assessing receptive and expressive grammar in young children. (SBH)

Examines why profile analysis "adds spurious specificity and misarticulated authority to quasi-diagnostic statements." Concludes that the difficulties inherent in diagnostic reading tests suggest that they are best utilized in comparing a child's performance with a norm group. (JM)

Because of limitations in simple gain scores, pychometrists have proposed alternate methods for measuring change, two of which are residualized difference and base-free change. This paper provides large sample empirical estimates of the reliability these change measures. It checks theoretical predictions derived from inequalities involving all…

An instrument designed to measure teacher job satisfaction was developed using randomly selected elementary, junior high school, and senior high school teachers. Factor analysis was undertaken as an exploratory technique to help discover underlying factors and as a psychometric procedure for the development and refinement of the instrument.…

Comments on Kerwin et al.'s article on Covariance Structure analysis (LISREL). Concerns include assumptions about requirements for causal inferences, psychometric properties of measurement scales, validity of the indicators of each latent variable, completeness of the structural model, linearity of the latent variables, and the joint distribution…

A questionnaire to assess verbal and visual learning styles was developed based on the Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire and analyzed, using a total of 477 college students in three studies. The three scales developed had adequate reliability and construct validity. The verbal learning style was most strongly correlated with verbal ability, but…

The authors tested the validity and reliability of a set of three assessment instruments for generalizable communications skills on a population of handicapped students who were enrolled in regular secondary vocational programs. Data suggest that these instruments are highly consistent internally, homogeneous, and precise measures of generalizable…

Describes Family Task Interview (FTI), multiple task interview administered by tape recorder and designed to elicit clinically relevant family interaction. Notes that results from studies conducted to evaluate FTI's validity, reliability, and acceptability suggest the FTI is well-standardized, easily administered instrument for assessment of…

The "Issues in Disability Scale" is a new instrument developed to measure both the cognitive and affective components of attitudes toward the physically disabled. The method by which the instrument was constructed is presented, along with preliminary data supporting both the reliability and validity of the scale. (Author/DB)

Reliability and validity data are reported for the Motivation Assessment Scale, a 16-item questionnaire designed to identify variables maintaining self-injurious behavior in persons with autism and other developmental disorders. Results indicated that interrater reliability and test-retest reliability among teachers was good and that ratings…

The scores of 11 non-handicapped kindergarten children on the Pragmatic Protocol (used in assessing language-handicapped children) were correlated with their ratings by five experienced judges on a 7-point equal-appearing interval scale of communicative competence. The concurrent validity of the Protocol and interobserver reliability were…

Results of an administration of the Language Proficiency Measure indicated that the interrater reliability was adequate, internal-consistency reliability estimates were high, concurrent validity coefficients were adequate, and the classification validity was acceptable. (Author/LMO)