Eleven leadership measures for children, youth, and adults are reviewed in the context of current leadership theories and psychometric standards for test use. Measures for assessing leadership among children are considered inadequately normed and lacking in reliability and validity data, but leadership measures for adults are seen as more…

Asserts that although no instrument has proved sufficiently robust to recommend universal screening, screening instruments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can play an important role. Discusses the clinical issues raised in screening for a developmental disorder, including risk status, management advice, and availability of services. Asserts…

Evaluates the use of discrimination indexes (or item-total correlation) for examining the reliability of examinations. States this technique has drawbacks and may cause examination validity to be lower. Discusses the idea of discrimination power and why poor students may answer an item correctly. (CMK)

In order to locate optimal cutoff scores for detecting developmental delays, the Brigance Screens were administered to 408 children (ages 21-48 months) along with a criterion battery measuring achievement and intelligence. The Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses were then used to locate optical cutoff scores for each form of the Brigance.…

Offers a practical evaluation and a technical evaluation of a military-generated career exploration program. Concludes that the instrument is a superb example of a multiple-aptitude battery due to its psychometrics, extensive norming data, and excellent materials. Cautions against adoption of instrument for civilian use without further testing.…

Reports on four studies that addressed the development of a career counseling scale. Results show that the instrument had moderate to high internal consistency across the studies and exhibited strong test-retest reliability over a two-week period. Construct validity was also supported. Uses of this test for training are discussed. (RJM)

Seven separate studies over 3.5 years developed the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory, examined its internal consistency, factor structure, and the questionnaire's convergent and discriminant validity. Results with college students, veterans, and battered women support the conceptualization of trauma-related guilt as a multidimensional construct.…

The example of a medical licensure test is used to demonstrate situations in which complex, integrated content must be balanced at the total test level for validity reasons, but items assigned to reportable subscore categories may be used under a multidimensional item response theory adaptive paradigm to improve subscore reliability. (SLD)

Developed and validated the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA), a survey for use in a smoking prevention curriculum for early adolescents in multicultural, urban settings. Found that three of the subscales correlated with subscales of another acculturation instrument, with English language usage, and…

A series of group-administered curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes were developed to assist in the identification of kindergarten students exhibiting deficient readiness skills. Acceptable reliability and validity estimates were obtained for three of the probe measures. Proposes the use of kindergarten CBM probes as a potential screening…

Two studies evaluated the PDD Behavior Inventory, (PDDBI), a rating scale designed to assess adaptive and maladaptive behaviors of children having a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). It was concluded that the PDDBI is both reliable and valid and is useful in providing information not typically available in most instruments used to assess…

Tests the validity of the Test of Phoneme Identities (TPI). Finds the TPI to be reliable and comparable to other phoneme awareness measures in predicting decoding ability; and to be more effective than a nursery rhyme and alphabet measures in predicting the number of lessons required for a student to learn to distinguish phonetic cues. (RS)

A study involving 30 Argentineans with autism evaluated the validity of the Autism Diagnostic Inventory-Telephone Screening in Spanish (ADI-TSS). The final version of the ADI-TSS could be assessed in 20 to 40 minutes and demonstrated a high validity, high interrater reliability, and high internal consistency. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Considers the development of an inter-rater reliability correlation comparing the judgments, or scores, or each judge to see if their observations are similar. Presents a case study of the Northville Public Schools' data for the 2000 MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) Writing Test. Concludes that in this case study the state fails both…

Documented the development, testing, and application of an organizational assessment tool for measuring employer support for heart health. The Heart Check inventory measured such factors as organizational foundations, administrative supports, stress management, and screening services. Data on diverse worksites throughout New York State indicated…