Individuals with better spatial thinking have increased interest and greater achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009). This relationship means that STEM education may benefit from leveraging spatial thinking, but measures of spatial thinking as they relate to specific…

Background: Research has shown that certification and an undergraduate major in a teaching subject are consistent positive-significant predictors of teacher effectiveness and the lack of at least a minor in an assigned subject as a consistent and negative indicator of student success. Texas secondary science teachers have either subject-specific…

Academic competence beliefs have been widely studied. However, conceptual and measurement efforts have not yet been directed toward understanding perceived underachievement (feeling that one's accomplishments fall below perceived capability). We conducted two studies in order to develop and examine validity evidence for the Perceived Academic…

This paper describes an effort to develop a survey instrument capable of measuring important aspects of adolescents' experiences of interest-related pursuits that are supported by technology. The measure focuses on youths' experiences of "connected learning" (Ito et al. in Connected learning: an agenda for research and design. Digital…

The aim of this study was to make validity and reliability of Turkish form of the individual and team character in sport questionnaire (ITCSQ) which was developed by Davidson et al., (2000). Scale was designed to measure outcomes related with character in the sport environment. 438 participants were voluntarily included into the study in two…

There is a clear need for valid and reliable instrumentation that measures teacher knowledge. However, the process of investigating and making a case for instrument validity is not a simple undertaking; rather, it is a complex endeavor. This paper presents the empirical case of one aspect of such an instrument validation effort. The particular…

The emotional competence screening and the social competence screening for parents and teachers were developed in Romania as brief, multiinformant, strength-focused assessment tools to identify children at risk of underdeveloped social-emotional competencies. The objective of the current study was to gather further reliability and validity…

Reading comprehension assessments often lack instructional utility because they do not accurately pinpoint why a student has difficulty. The varying formats, directions, and response requirements of comprehension assessments lead to differential measurement of underlying skills and contribute to noted amounts of unshared variance among tests. Maze…

The study adapted Astin's I-E-O model and utilized multiple regression analyses to predict faculty attitudes toward developmental education. The study utilized a cross-sectional survey design to survey faculty members at 27 different higher education institutions in the state of Alabama. The survey instrument was a self-designed questionnaire that…

In this study, a reading culture scale was developed that can be used in determining the reading cultures of teacher candidates who study in education faculties. When looking at the literature, the attitudes about reading, habit, perception, self-efficacy and so on. It was seen that there were scales measuring the concepts but not a scale that…

Children's development of attitudes about science begins early. However, little is known regarding how children feel about science in the preschool years. The lack of a psychologically sound instrument that can appropriately capture young children's attitude towards science is another challenge faced by early childhood science researchers. The…

Background: Self-efficacy has been shown to be positively related to undergraduate engineering students' achievement. Designing self-efficacy measures to assess the multifaceted skills required of engineers could improve the predictive relationship between efficacy beliefs and performance. Purpose: This study evaluates the factor structure,…

The aim of this research was to develop measures to provide valid and reliable representation of the motivational states and psychological needs proposed by the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000) within a physical education context. Based on theoretical underpinnings of self-determination theory, two questionnaires were…

Rigorous longitudinal research demonstrates that certain Mindsets, Essential Skills, and Habits (MESH) can help students succeed in college, career, and life. Assessing students' MESH competencies can give educators valuable information that helps them understand students' strengths and identify the areas in which students need additional support.…

The purpose of the present study was to conduct an initial validation of the Positive Family Support--Strengths and Needs Assessment (PFS-SaNA) for elementary school children. The PFS-SaNA is designed as a universal screener wherein parents report on common areas their children may need additional support. Parents of children attending one…