The Test of Practical Knowledge seeks to measure students' skills to handle everyday life situations by assessing three domains: personal knowledge, social knowledge, and occupational knowledge. This paper describes the administration of the test to students in grades 8 to 12, the summation of data, interpretation of scores, standardization,…

Focuses on the development of a reliable and valid scale for measuring the related constructs of relational ethics as described in contextual family therapy. Presents the five-stage procedure used in developing the Relational Ethics Scale and the final version of the instrument. Provides data supporting the validity and reliability of the scale.…

Qualities of strong families of children with disabilities are described, and assessment tools for measuring these strengths are reviewed. Empirical evidence for the reliability and validity of the Family Functioning Style Scale (FFSS) is presented, along with discussion of psychometric aspects of the test. Guidelines for FFSS use in interventions…

This study examined psychometric properties and usefulness of the Evaluation and Programming System: Assessment Level I (EPS-I) by analyzing validity, reliability, and utility data from 335 nonhandicapped, at-risk, and handicapped infants and young children. Outcomes portrayed EPS-I as a valid, reliable, and helpful instrument for developing and…

A developed computer-administered form of the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and the clinician form of the instrument were administered to 214 psychiatric outpatients and 78 community adults. Results support the reliability and validity of the computer-administered version as an alternative to the clinician-administered version. (SLD)

The five chapters of this report provide resources that deal with the validity, generalizability, comparability, performance standards, and fairness, equity, and bias of performance assessments. The book is written for experienced educational measurement practitioners, although an extensive familiarity with performance assessment is not required.…

Describes the development of the Career Success Expectations Scale and its application to two different significant career transitions. Two samples (161 managers and 103 managers obtaining a graduate degree) were used in exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and the three-factor structure from the exploratory analysis was confirmed with…

This article discusses development of the Blind Rehabilitation Services Functional Outcomes Survey during a research project on the rehabilitation of adults with visual impairments. It describes the development process, the methods used in establishing survey reliability and validity, and the results of intermediate analyses of the data. (Contains…

The D-48, a nonverbal test of general intelligence, was administered to 250 Mexican American and Anglo American community college students. Analysis of D-48 scores indicates no significant differences due to ethnicity or gender; adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability; and significant correlations with grade point average and…

Psychometric properties of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) were examined. Findings suggested that the CDI reflects the progress of language development within the age range 10 to 27 months. Findings support caution in using results to identify individuals at risk for language deficits, to compare groups with different…

This study investigated the reliability and construct validity of a peer nomination form used to identify 670 Hispanic students of outstanding talent from three southwestern school districts. Results indicated adequate reliability, and suggestions are offered for improving the instrument's validity. (DB)

Finds that graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) experience eight interrelated types of communication concern (self, task, impact, role conflict, teaching, area knowledge, procedural knowledge, and time management). Shows that GTA variables of expected duties, prior teaching experience, newness to area, foreign or domestic birth, and age are likely…

This article examines assessment instruments, measurement considerations, and factors that affect understanding of a child's creativity. It compares strengths and weaknesses of methods of assessing creativity and lists more than 60 standardized assessment measures. Procedures for using formal and informal measures in the decision-making process…

This volume is the fourth in a series for college faculty and advanced graduate students, "Survival Skills for Scholars." It offers practical advice for developing, using, and grading classroom examinations, focusing on traditional multiple-choice and constructed-response tests rather than alternative assessments. (SLD)

This article proposes a new type of pronunciation test, based on the variability principle and language continuum paradigm developed by Tarone (1983, 1985). Trials with 80 elementary and 73 university students indicate that the test distinguishes between subjects with and without phonetic training and is generally reliable and valid. Contains 31…