The aim of this study is to develop a scale of social acceptance for determining the social acceptance levels of special-needs students, participating in inclusion practices. The target population of the research is 8th grade students of all primary schools in the provincial center of Burdur in the 2008 to 2009 academic year and the target study…

The evaluation of learning is a systematic process involving testing, measuring and evaluation. In the testing step, a teacher needs to choose the best instrument that can test the minds of students. Testing will produce scores or marks with many variations either in homogeneous or heterogeneous forms that will be used to categorize the scores…

This is the second study to investigate the clinical use of the Parent-Instruction Game with Youngsters (PIGGY) which is a structured observation system derived from the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System II (DPICS-II; Eyberg, Bessmer, Newcomb, Edwards, & Robinson, 1994) and the Behavior Coding System (BCS; Forehand & McMahon, 1981). In…

Objectives: To carry out a preliminary exploration and measurement of therapy expectancy in adults with intellectual disabilities through the development and psychometric evaluation of the therapy expectation measure (TEAM). Design: The initial scale development phase combined top-down theory-driven and bottom-up data-driven processes to identify…

The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) for use with deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HOH) children. Psychologists (n = 10) provided data for 128 D/HOH children who were assessed with the WISC-IV as part of routine assessments. All the WISC-IV subtests (8) and…

The assessment of literacy and numeracy skills of students as they enter school for the first time is not yet established nation-wide in Australia. However, a large proportion of primary schools have chosen to assess their starting students on the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools-Baseline Assessment (PIPS-BLA). This series of three…

Teacher preparation programs face great challenges in ensuring their graduates are prepared for the demands of today's classrooms. The authors explore how teacher accountability has evolved based upon federal legislation leading to adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Recognizing that future teachers will be held accountable for…

Currently, there are few strengths-based preschool rating scales that sample a wide array of behaviors believed to be essential for early academic success. The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure of a new measure of early academic competence for at-risk preschool populations. The Teacher Rating Scales of Early Academic…

Despite questions about validity and reliability, the use of value-added estimation methods has moved beyond academic research into state accountability systems for teachers, schools, and teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Prior studies of value-added measurement for TPPs test the validity of researcher-designed models and find that measuring…

Problem Statement: Based on developments in the 21st century technology has become a large part of the classroom experience. Teachers need to have an understanding of how technology can be coordinated with pedagogy and content knowledge in order to integrate technology effectively into classroom instruction. Self-efficacy beliefs toward technology…

In this paper, we report on 2 studies developing, testing, and using an observation tool for measuring primary literacy instruction, the Developing Language and Literacy Teaching (DLLT) rubrics. In Study 1 (an instrumentation study), we show that the DLLT has a high level of internal consistency, that there are high levels of inter-rater…

The aim of this study was to develop a tool to measure levels of mathematical knowledge gained in high school, as perceived by incoming engineering students. The study included 657 engineering students in the 2011-2012 academic year. Factor analysis was used to obtain a scale consisting of 47 items (Cronbach Alpha coefficient, 0.975). The…

Science teachers' content knowledge is an important influence on student learning, highlighting an ongoing need for programs, and assessments of those programs, designed to support teacher learning of science. Valid and reliable assessments of teacher science knowledge are needed for direct measurement of this crucial variable. This paper…

High fidelity simulation has become a widespread and costly learning strategy in nursing education because it can fill the gap left by a shortage of clinical sites. In addition, high fidelity simulation is an active learning strategy that is thought to increase higher order thinking such as clinical reasoning and judgment skills in nursing…

Physics education researchers have scientifically established the fact that the understanding of new concepts and interpretation of incoming information are strongly influenced by the preexisting knowledge and beliefs of students, called epistemological beliefs. This can lead to a gap between what students actually learn and what the teacher…