This methodological investigation examines the accuracy of narrative-based scaled ratings covering several post high school years. Guided narratives by young adults described developmentally relevant behaviour and context for each month between ages 17 and the mid-20s. "Prospective" narratives covered shorter time periods in three interviews…

Subject matter experts play an essential role in technical curriculum development by providing accurate and up-to-date information that matches education, training, and workforce needs. The Subject Matter Expert (SME) COMlist is proposed as a tool that enables instructional developers to evaluate an SME's capability and suitability to support…

Using Scanlan and Lewthwaite's (1986) sport enjoyment model as a conceptual framework, this study was designed to explore two areas: (a) students' and teachers' perceptions of "fun" in physical education class and (b) differences that may exist in these perceptions between groups of students (in team sports, individual/dual sports, and fitness)…

The authors describe the development and validation of a test of career planning confidence that makes possible the targeting of specific problem issues in employment counseling. The scale, developed using a rational process and the authors' experience with clients, was tested for criterion-related validity against 2 other measures. The scale…

This study developed, applied, and evaluated a theory-based method of detecting the underlying causes of differential difficulty. The method was applied to two subgroups taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Mathematics (SAT-M), 261 visually impaired students taking Braille forms of the test and 1,985 black students at 3 test administrations. It…

This study compared selected items from the 1992 and 1995 (Revised) Higher Education Research Institute's Faculty Surveys (HERIFS) for Clarkson College (Nebraska). The HERIFS surveys are designed to collect data concerning faculty at various institutions nationwide for comparative purposes. This study attempted to identify changes between selected…

Standard and experimental forms of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundations Analytical Reasoning test were administered to 1,496 clients of the Foundation (persons seeking information about aptitude for educational and career decisions). The objectives were to develop a new form of the test and to better understand what makes some items more…

In preparation for a study of essay questions and other forms of open-ended exercises in the California Golden State Examination for biology, the functioning of open-ended biology items in another examination was explored. The Golden State Examination program offers honors credit to students who wish to qualify for admission to programs in…

Direct assessments of the accuracy with which raters can use a rating instrument are presented. This study demonstrated how surplus behavioral incidents scaled during the development of Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) can be used effectively in the evaluation of the newly developed scales. Construction of scenarios of hypothetical…

"Item models" (LaDuca, Staples, Templeton, & Holzman, 1986) are classes from which it is possible to generate/produce items that are equivalent/isomorphic to other items from the same model (e.g., Bejar, 1996; Bejar, 2002). They have the potential to produce large number of high-quality items at reduced cost. This paper introduces…

The agreement between the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Golden Rule Insurance Company of Illinois is interpreted as setting the general principles on which items must be selected to be included in a licensure test. These principles put a limit to the difficulty level of any item, and they also limit the size of the difference in…

Methods proposed by L. A. Goodman (1987) for analyzing intrinsic properties of cross-classified nominal or ordered categorical variables were used to examine the performance of items measuring psychological adjustment (PA). These methods were applied to 35 3x4 tables cross-classifying 1,158 persons according to their mental health status (MHS) and…

A study examined the nature of functional literacy among 671 Moroccan children, aged 11-14, and the relationship of functional and classroom literacy to background factors and school experience. Students were assessed on a series of household literacy tasks sampling knowledge of spatial and monetary print conventions, specialized vocabulary, and…

A comparison of the results of grades 4, 7, and 10 of the Dearborn Public Schools and the state attainment on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) by skill areas and objectives is described. The contents include (1) Dearborn versus state MEAP attainment results, (2) comparison of MEAP results with previous MEAP results of same groups…

This report summarizes the results of research designed to study the psychometric and technological feasibility of adaptive testing to assess spatial ability. Data was collected from high school students on two types of spatial items: three-dimensional cubes and hidden figure items. The analysis of the three-dimensional cubes focused on the fit of…