The objectives of this study were twofold: first, to develop an improved version of the instruments used to measure Goal IV (Attitude Toward School and School Learning) at the fifth and eleventh grade levels in the public schools of Pennsylvania under a program of "Educational Quality Assessment" mandated by the legislature. Secondly, it was the…

This volume presents a systematic review and evaluation of the major empirical measures of social psychological attitudes. It is hoped that the form of presentation adopted in this work (which includes actual scale items and scoring instructions) will help the reader to make his or her own judgments about the current state of the art in social…

The document is comprised of the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) Toolkit, a field-tested observation packet to examine literacy and language practices and materials in prekindergarten through third grade classrooms, and a user's guide providing technical information and instructions for administration and scoring the…

The 19 chapters of this text on assessment in special education are divided into two parts. Part 1 discusses basic concepts in assessment in special education. Part 2 addresses the special education process by describing steps in the assessment continuum. Individual chapters examine the following topics: (1) an introduction to assessment; (2)…

Four studies established the reliability and validity of measures for assessing attitudes toward others and sex typing of self in occupations, activities, and traits. A fifth study provided longitudinal data from children tested 4 times from age 11 to 13 years. Data supported conceptual distinctions among individual's gender attitudes toward…

Compares the performance on the economics Advanced Placement (AP) examination between college students who had completed an introductory course in economics and high school students taking the AP examination for the first time. Discusses possible reasons that the high school students did better than their college counterparts. (MJP)

Describes the development of an instrument designed to assess the language competence of second language learners by observing natural interactions in transitional bilingual classrooms. A pilot study that assessed the social language of 24 bilingual fifth-graders in a summer math program provided data for examining the instrument's reliability and…

This article describes the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised-Normative Update, an individually administered school achievement measure for students from kindergarten through grade twelve. The test assesses students' knowledge of general information, reading recognition, reading comprehension, mathematics, spelling, and written…

The goal theory of achievement argues that the goals stressed by schools have dramatic consequences for whether children develop a sense of self-efficacy, or whether they avoid challenging tasks, giving up when faced with failure. It is commonly believed that the goals stressed by Western-oriented schools are inappropriate to indigenous minority…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in given areas. This report describes the development and psychometric properties of…

This study was conducted to pre-validate the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), the Learning and Study Skills Inventory (LASSI), and the Test of Reactions and Adaptations to College (TRAC) on a sample of students (N=103) from the population of psychology majors at Champlain Regional College, Saint Lawrence campus. The purpose…

Procedures are described to determine reliability and validity of the Brockton (Massachusetts) Battery's Tests of Reading Readiness and the Adaptive Behavior Scales, which were developed to assess performance levels of Hispanic, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean normal and high risk children. Among reasons given for development of the instruments are…

The cooperative efforts of researchers and practitioners in building a model of essential teaching and classroom management skills as part of a process of educational reform are illustrated in this study by a local school administrator and university program directors and professors. The reform effort was part of the Arizona Career Ladder pilot…

An examination of the principles and techniques of oral testing in British university-level final examinations in modern languages discusses: (1) the shortcomings of present oral testing procedures; (2) the theoretical controversy surrounding the design and value of oral proficiency tests, arising from research in English as a second language…

During the spring semester of 1987, the Alabama State Department of Education conducted a statewide assessment study in which all teachers and principals participated. The classroom performance of teachers was observed, and their teaching competencies were measured on low- and high-inference instruments. These measurements were to be used to…