The Middle Childhood HOME (MC-HOME) Inventory is designed to measure the quality and quantity of stimulation and support available to a child in the home environment. It is an interview/questionnaire that is individually administered to the primary caregiver while the target child is awake and present. The instrument is intended to be a sensitive…

Issues in collecting data on the classroom performance of teachers are discussed, with a focus on written descriptions of teacher behavior in contrast with videotaped observations. The central issue in this comparison is the comparability of the information when it is observed live and when it is simply recorded on videotape. The fundamental…

Lessons derived from the Job Performance Measurement (JPM) Project, which is overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and Personnel, for educational assessment are explored. The JPM Project was initiated to develop high fidelity measures of performance on the job that can be used to evaluate personnel…

The use of performance based evaluation on a national scale with 7-year-olds in the United Kingdom is described, and the impact of national assessment on teaching practice and implications of this type of assessment are considered. The national assessment program in the United Kingdom started in earnest in 1991 when all 7-year-olds were assessed…

This pair of studies investigated the psychometric adequacy of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R) with a population of 8,396 potentially gifted elementary children of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds as well as diverse emotional and social environments. Study I showed subjects' profiles differed strikingly from…

The impact of non-response (NR) in baseline data collection on the ability to analyze treatment effects in Project ALERT (Adolescent Experiences in Resistance Training) was studied. Project ALERT is a multisite, multiyear test of a smoking and drug prevention program for seventh and eighth graders. Questionnaires about drug use and related topics…

An Indiana project developed a model diagnostic basic skills testing program with statewide application for teachers certified under the Occupational Specialist Rules. Fifteen commercially produced tests were reviewed for adoption. The set of criteria that guided the selection process included technical aspects and application factors. The TABE…

The field testing process for the collection of data on the norms, reliability, and concurrent validity of the Career Decision-Making System (CDM) is described. The CDM is a comprehensive career planning instrument that surveys interests, values, abilities, and training plans and relates them to career information in client-oriented interpretive…

This study evaluated Krell's 1981-82 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) preparatory series software purported to raise students' scores substantially after only a short term of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Forty-eight college-bound juniors from Escambia County (Florida) were assigned to experimental and control groups. A two-phased pre- and…

The Outward Bound Bridging Course is a 6-week residential program designed to improve academic achievement and self-concepts in low-achieving high school males. During 1980-1984, five courses were conducted for 66 Australian high school males. Most of them were ninth grade students, chosen on the basis of poor academic performance, an apparent…

This report compares two approaches to measuring task interdependence, a theoretically fruitful concept for analyzing an organization's technical system. Task interdependence exists among operating personnel in the degree that task performance of one operative constrains, augments, or otherwise poses contingencies for the performance of another.…

A one-page introduction is followed by summaries of articles and documents on teacher competency testing. George F. Madaus argues that, although tests serve some useful functions, treating them as a major mechanism for reforming education is questionable. Peter A. Garcia examines the negative impact of testing on minority teachers and minorities…

This paper assesses the credibility of a single total instrument score and various logical sub-scores derived from a series of summative judgments about the quality of teaching performance. The objectives were to compare the generalizability of alternative Teacher Performance Assessment Instrument (TPAI) scores, to compare the dependability of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) Core Battery for use in teacher certification in Louisiana. This information was produced to assist in the recommendation and establishment of a required score on the NTE. The jury judgment approach was used. Panels of faculty members were drawn from…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was administered to 26 hearing impaired college students, in order to test the assumption that the English-language deficiencies of hearing impaired students are similar to those of foreign students. The students were attending Gallaudet College's School of Preparatory Studies and were identified…