Predictive validities of computer aptitude and computer anxiety were studied using nonprogramming computer performance as the criterion variable for 162 young adults. Effects of computer anxiety on performance were negligible, and computer aptitude yielded uncertain results. The measurement instruments' reliability was also reported. (SLD)

Reliabilities and information functions for percentile ranks and number-right scores were compared using item response theory, modeling standardized achievement tests. Results demonstrate that situations exist in which the percentage of items known by examinees can be accurately estimated, but the percentage of persons falling below a given score…

Measurement fidelity (reliability, factor structure, and validity) of Aschenbach's Youth Self-Report scale was studied with 226 adolescents at a psychiatric hospital. Findings confirm convergent validity and reliability of four of the measure's seven narrowband syndromes, and seven meaningful subdimensions were extracted from the other three…

An example application of portfolio assessment was developed and the model and estimates of reliability derived from the literature were then used to estimate the characteristics of an operational large-scale portfolio assessment program. Costs were estimated to put results in a realistic context. (SLD)

Eight-item revision of the UCLA Loneliness Scale was administered to 2,614 students, aged 11-14. Loneliness did not differ by age or between Anglo- and Mexican-American students, but was higher for girls than boys in each ethnic group. Principal components factor analysis and correlations with other related measures indicate good reliability and…

A five-year curriculum evaluation project is described that treated students' course ratings, examination reliability coefficients, and item-discrimination data as a battery of data points for determining annual revision efforts. Histograms were constructed to make valid demonstrations of successful efforts immediately comprehensible to faculty.…

Evidence supporting the use of a revision of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming scale, called Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities, is presented. Scale testing with 376 professionals revealed satisfactory item characteristics, adequate reliability and homogeneity, and initial support for construct validity. The scale…

The behavior of each of 120 students in grades 9-12 was rated by 2 of the student's teachers using the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. Results indicated a generally low to moderate degree of relationship among teacher ratings. It is recommended that clinicians collect behavioral ratings from many raters before reaching diagnostic conclusions.…

The design of a valid and reliable test of test-wiseness is reported: a 33-item multiple-choice instrument with 4 subscales trialed with several groups of English-as-a-Second-Language students. Findings indicate differential skills in test-taking; some learner scores are influenced by skills that are not the focus of the test. (13 references)…

The Miller Assessment for Preschoolers, intended for children ages 2-5, is designed as both a screening and a diagnostic assessment, measuring neuromaturational variables, coordination, language, memory, problem solving, and visual perception. This review examines test administration, summation of data, standardization, reliability, and validity,…

The reliability and validity of E. D. Hirsch's (1988) Cultural Literacy Test (CLT) was studied with 150 first-year college students at the University of St. Thomas in Houston (Texas). The test appears reliable, with a split-half reliability estimate of 0.93, and the cultural literacy construct and the CLT are valid. (SLD)

Seventeen educational measurement textbooks were reviewed to analyze current perceptions regarding true-false achievement testing. A synthesis of the rules for item writing is presented, and the purported advantages and disadvantages of the true-false format derived from those texts are reviewed. (TJH)

Finds that the Diagnostic Writing Skills Test, used as a diagnostic grammar pretest for students in a basic business communication course, shows positive correlations between the pretest and the final course grade, but does not predict that grade. (SR)

This assessment of the usefulness of the "Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised" and the "Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition" for gifted children found that both are technically superior instruments with sensitive items, exceptional standardization, strong construct validity, and…

The behavior of 120 children (grades 9-12) was rated by 2 groups of teachers using the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. The correlation coefficients obtained indicate low to moderate relationship between teacher ratings of the same child, with the strongest correlations for the subscale Attention Problems-Immaturity. (Author/JDD)