Evaluates the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the visual arts, discussing issues such as the formulation of performance expectations and reporting procedures. States that, when exploring the scores, the context within which the arts are taught must be considered. Asserts that educational improvement requires changes in the…

This study compared 4 methods (2 case history and 2 performance-based) used to classify the status of adult subjects in familial studies of developmental language disorders, involving 24 parents of children with developmental language disorders and 24 unrelated adult controls. Classification by case history found fewer affected adults than…

In the United States, college students' ratings of instructors are routinely used to make personnel decisions. However, closer examination of the qualifications of amateur student raters and novice public school teachers who have received training that should enable them to be good raters suggests that neither group is qualified to give reliable…

Five-year follow-up study examined the predictive validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) for 39 children identified during preschool as exhibiting language impairment (n=10), behavior control deficits (n=13), or normal language and behavioral development (n=16). Results generally supported the predictive validity of the…

Investigated the relationship between identity and moral reasoning in high school and college students. Scores on a new measure of moral reasoning, the Ethic of Care Interview (ECI), were found to be significantly related to age, ego identity, and scores on Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview. The relationship between identity and ECI scores was…

This article uses a question-and-answer format to describe the major categories of technical information usually presented in technical manuals for tests used by speech/language clinicians, including logical evidence of validity, empirical evidence of validity, types of reliability estimates, and practical issues in applying standardization data…

Discusses the value of content considerations in the design of language tests and the implications of the findings of various investigations of content analysis. The article argues that content analysis can be viewed as the application of a model of test design to a particular measurement instrument, using judgments of trained analysts. (26…

Techniques for establishing the reliability and validity of student writing assessment are presented. Raters scored collections of elementary students' narrative writing with holistic scores from two rubrics (one established and one new, performance-based rubric). The new rubric proved reliable and valid, though correlational patterns were not…

Assesses sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of official police suicide rates and compares them to those of municipal workers. Official police suicide rates had less sensitivity (83.3% compared to 92.3%) of actual suicides than municipal worker rates. Police suicide rates also showed a lower negative proportion than municipal worker…

Examines some problems of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS): multiple cutoff scores for passing the test and receiving a high school diploma, and artificially "tricky" items that disproportionately confuse language-minority students. Uses factor analysis and simulations to show ways to improve item selection for the TAAS.…

Examines underlying epistemological and theoretical assumptions of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Concludes that IALS is primarily geared toward enhancing labor-market competencies but should instead make learners co-responsible actors of their own learning process and participants in a democratic debate defining the kind of…

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) has serious limitations. Interpretation of data often manifests an ethnocentric Western attitude, ranking handling of data-based information higher than experiential and contextualized information, and ignoring how people solve problems in their life context. Proposes an alternative model, called…

Points out the difficulties of defining and operationalizing literacy and literacy development across communities with diverse socioeconomic profiles. Proposes consideration of diverse socioeconomic patterns and level of community (in addition to macro-level of nation-state and the micro-level of individual) to analyze matters relating to literacy…

This study evaluated the validity of language-assessment instruments with Native American children, ages 3 to 5. Results indicated that the Preschool Language Scale-3 provides a valid assessment of the receptive and expressive language skills of 3- and 4-year-old Native-American children. However, use of this scale with 5-year-old Native Americans…

A study examined the usefulness of information secured from eight students displaying substantially more problem behaviors in one classroom (high-risk) than another, and 16 teachers. Students were able to provide reliable information in the functional assessment interview. Moderate to high agreement was obtained between students and teachers in…