Inclusion of students with disabilities, including children and youth diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders, has been a prominent and contentious issue for decades. Yet, in spite of the extraordinary attention given this topic, there has been a general absence of empirically sound research to guide policy and practice. This article…

Parents of pupils who were attending elementary schools in a typical medium-size city of Japan were surveyed. Respondents who had a close friend who has a person with intellectual disability (ID) as a family member or who had experience of voluntary work or job-related contact showed clear favorable attitudes. However, they differed greatly from…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the admission process for an undergraduate research program in health science and to assess the students' statement of purpose for entering the program. Admission data (high school marks, supplementary application information, and overall rater score) and first-year GPA…

Recent studies that purport to estimate the costs of constitutionally adequate education have been described as either a "gold standard" that should guide legislative school finance policy design and judicial evaluation, or as pure "alchemy." Methods for estimating the cost of constitutionally adequate education can be roughly…

A new measure of reading comprehension, the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension (DARC), designed to reflect central comprehension processes while minimizing decoding and language demands, was pilot tested. We conducted three pilot studies to assess the DARC's feasibility, reliability, comparability across Spanish and English,…

The increasing availability and performance of computer-based testing has prompted more research on the automatic assessment of language and speaking proficiency. In this investigation, we evaluated the feasibility of using an off-the-shelf speech-recognition system for scoring speaking prompts from the LanguEdge field test of 2002. We first…

This pilot study examined the relational-behavior model (RBM) as an HIV/AIDS assessment tool for at-risk college populations. Based on this theory, a survey was constructed to assess the six areas associated with HIV/AIDS prevention: personal awareness, knowledge deficiency, relational skills, HIV/STD stigmatization, community awareness, and…

The study reviews translation validated tests and proposes a process-oriented translation test for assessing basic translation skills for freshmen English majors at the faculty of Education. The proposed test is developed based on the process approach to translating and translation teaching, and is confined to translation from English to Arabic.…

This study examined the effects of an assessment-based intervention plan on the appropriate classroom behavior of a socially withdrawn, Hispanic, learning disabled, third grade student. The study focused on (1) the effects of peer mediation as part of a behavioral intervention package of empirically validated components, (2) the effects of…

In this journal issue, the authors of the focus articles have provided a suite of very stimulating and thoughtful articles. The overarching purpose of this research is to explore the application of principles derived from the view of validity proposed by Kane (2004) to their research on issues related to the measurement of mathematical knowledge…

The Secondary Level Proficiency (SLEP) test, offered by the SLEP School Services Program at the Educational Testing Service, measures English language listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills. It was developed for use with nonnative-English speaking students in grades 7 through 12. The SLEP is administered and scored locally, and…

Traditionally, correlation coefficients have been used to validate course placement decisions based on test scores and high school grades. Because placement systems restrict the range of both the predictor and outcome variables, correlation coefficients based on data from students enrolled in particular courses are understated relative to what…

A study compared the performance of 44 applicants seeking admission to an alternative high school (n=19) and nursing assistant program (n=25) at a Wisconsin postsecondary institution on the Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET) test and the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. (Applicants who did not achieve a minimum score on ASSET then…

A statewide survey was conducted by Georgia Assessment Project, Georgia State University during 1992 to determine if Georgia employers and educators agreed with Georgia policymakers that each of the 28 desired student outcomes (DSOs) was important to success in the workplace. Of 4,041 surveys mailed to a representative sample of educators and…

This report deals with the question of obtaining insights into states of prior knowledge and exploring knowledge state tests and knowledge state profiles. The first part introduces a few basic terms important in the context of prior knowledge state. Evaluation and the validity, reliability, and usefulness of tests are considered in a prior…