The Verbal Interaction Analysis System (VIAS) was applied to interaction between high school students and adult confederates. The VIAS successfully discriminated between two groups of verbally skilled students (n=8) and less skilled students (n=8). When these adolescent-adult interactions were conceptualized as interviews rather than conversations…

The user-friendly Classroom Ecobehavioral Assessment Instrument was developed to incorporate advantages of environmental assessment and functional assessment. Relatively simple behavior sampling procedures and scripted steps for summarizing and analyzing data lead to prescriptions for altering assessment and/or intervention practices. Results of…

Tests of a neuropsychological model for spatial orientation in the absence of vision were developed and administered to 31 children with congenital blindness. Results support the neuropsychological model and indicate that some congenitally blind subjects had focal brain damage, sufficient to impair their capacity to be accurately oriented in…

Examines methodological and conceptual issues related to the study of the effects of parental depression on children, focusing on the need to develop measures of relational behavior that are well-validated in high risk samples; relational assessments focused around central motivating systems; and methods that describe a variety of individual…

This article presents the results of three studies in the learning-potential testing of children from minority groups: (1) Test of Children's Learning Ability; (2) Learning Efficiency Battery; and (3) Learning Potential Test for Ethnic Minorities. It concludes that, although the development of culture-free tests is impossible, it is possible to…

This article addresses issues concerned with providing testing accommodations for students with disabilities. It discusses policy and legal considerations, existing standards, research on current practice, and research on technical concerns. It recommends a research program on testing accommodations for students with disabilities. (Author/DB)

Data from parent reports on 1,803 children, derived from the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories, are used to describe the course of communicative development between 8 and 30 months of age. Found wide variability in children's rate of lexical, gestural, and grammatical development; correlations between several components of language…

Examined concurrent and longitudinal relations among adolescents' problem behavior (PB), self-image, and peer relations. Analyses showed age increases correlated with disobedience, school misconduct, substance use, and peer involvement. Longitudinal increases in PB were associated with decreases in positive self-image and increases in peer…

A survey of 2,161 Ohio elementary and secondary school teachers reveals that they consistently identified specific gender-bias-free competencies as appropriate for their grade-level students. Nine competencies reoccurred across the six grade levels sampled, and 10 competencies were established as specific to each of the 6 grade levels. (SLD)

The Academic Motivation Profile is derived from theories of motivation. Researchers studied preservice teachers to refine the instrument, examine the relationship between undergraduate student motivation and achievement, and determine the instrument's utility for detecting group differences. The paper discusses the instrument's development,…

An 82-item multidimensional questionnaire, the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale, was recently developed in Italy to measure client satisfaction with psychiatric services. The scale contains 29 items from the English Service Satisfaction Scale. Psychometric characteristics and test use are discussed. Results support the use of the scale in service…

Described are important changes that will be introduced in the mathematics sections of the new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The three main changes are (1) permission to use calculators; (2) inclusion of open-ended questions; and (3) content revisions consistent with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics "Curriculum and Evaluation…

Misconceptions about educational testing and school assessment are ingrained in U.S. society and in the knowledge structure of educational professionals. Tests and assessments are highly ethnocentric, ignoring knowledge valued by many cultures. The article examines misconceptions and makes recommendations for an informed discourse on using testing…

Two perspectives on assessment for teacher certification are described: the competency orientation, and the professional orientation. These perspectives are used to discuss current problems, basically validity issues, in teacher assessment: (1) a professional orientation toward assessment; (2) criterion-referenced assessments; and (3) the unit of…

This study delineated procedures for cross-cultural adaptation and operationalization of adaptive behavior in individuals with mental retardation, culturally adapted the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, and investigated the validity of the resulting instrument. The study concluded that the domain of adaptive behavior can be successfully applied…