This article describes the Scale for the Evaluation of Gifted Identification Instruments, developed for use by school decision makers. Development of the scale is reviewed in terms of five areas of assessment: validity, reliability, propriety, respondent appropriateness, and utility. Specific guidelines and cautions in using the scale are also…

A three-phase study was conducted to develop and validate the Penn Inventory for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a 26-item self-report measure. Results with 83 and 98 combat veterans and with 76 general population patients and disaster survivors support usefulness of the measure. (SLD)

Reviews six instruments developed to assess the psychological processes associated with experiences of racism among African Americans. Recommendations for modifications, revisions, and additional reliability and validity evidence are presented for each of these relatively new measures. (SLD)

The development and initial validation of a new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI-2) scale designed to determine infrequent responding with psychopathological populations are described. Results with 1,179 subjects show that the Infrequency-Psychopathology Scale (F p ) may be useful in settings with high base rates of…

Information about current assessment practices was obtained from 54 surveys completed by Handicapped Children's Early Education Program (HCEEP) demonstration projects across the United States. Information about factors influencing the selection and continued use of tests also was provided. Results indicated that 19 tests were used by five or more…

To assist the clinician or researcher in scale selection, four symposium papers discussed instruments available to measure test anxiety (TA), with special attention given to the newly-developed Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). Following an integrative summary delivered by the chairperson (DeVito), the first paper (Conetta and Tryon) reviewed the two…

Of the 15 substantive papers in this report, 12 focus on the use of the Kent Infant Development (KID) Scale with severely handicapped children. The KID Scale measures 252 behaviors usually developed during the first year of life in five domains (cognitive, motor, language, self-help, and social). It was successfully adapted to elicit reliable…

Reviews research on the use of the "T-Unit" as a measure of language ability, demonstrating that the measure has limited utility in the case of second language, since it bases itself solely on syntax and does not reward speakers for sophistication in such areas as vocabulary. (Author/CB)

Student perceptions of the preparation for and fairness, value as a learning experience, and logistics of a newly implemented oral examination in a course preparing senior pharmacy students for community pharmacy practice are summarized. (MSE)

Because diagnostic capability of the WISC-R has remained in doubt, its diagnostic suitability was assessed by applying Kelley's method of estimating the proportion of score differences in excess of chance to the original subscales, Bannatyne clusters, and Kaufman's three factor groupings. Caution should be used when applying WISC-R diagnostically.…

For mildly and moderately mentally retarded individuals, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised measures at about the same level as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and, consequently, it also produces much higher IQs than the Wechsler children's scales or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Form L-M, despite high intertest…

Examines influences of construct, writer, assignment, and rater variables on the evaluation of handwriting products and investigates the instructional applicability of handwriting scales. Results indicated handwriting scales do not provide an adequate means of determining competence, individualizing instruction, or monitoring progress. (Author/ABB)

Argues for appraising tests for evidence of construct validity as well as evaluating the potential social consequences of test use. Asserts that construct validity provides a rational approach for predictive hypotheses and a rational basis for judgment of test relevance to the criterion domain. (Author/JCD)

The psychometric adequacy of the Social Interaction Scale and the Social Phobia Scale (both by R. P. Mattick and J. C. Clark, 1989) was studied with 165 patients with anxiety disorders and 21 people without anxiety. Results support the usefulness of the scales for screening and treatment design and evaluation. (SLD)

Evaluated elementary school students (N=198) using six mental processing subtests of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and three tests of planning. Results indicated orthogonal simultaneous and sequential factors emerged; the verbal simultaneous test was a good addition; and a "planning" factor identified by three…