Research Findings: In the past 20 years school districts have increasingly adopted classroom-based social and emotional development programs. The dissemination of these programs, however, has surpassed our understanding of and ability to assess factors that influence program implementation. The present study responded to this gap by developing a…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the instruction method "Thinking Actively in an Academic Context" (TAAC) in the thinking skills of 6th grade students in primary education. The sample consisted of 58 subjects, aged between 11- and 13-years-of-age, 27 in the experimental group and 31 in the control group. A pre-test…

The responses of 472 educators were used to develop the Pre-Referral Intervention Team Inventory (PRITI), a 24-item Likert scale. Principal axis analyses resulted in a one-dimensional structure with high internal consistency that explained 57% of the total variance. Acceptability of team procedures was strongly and positively correlated with a…

A review of Educational Measurement (American Council on Education, 1971) edited by Robert L. Thorndike. (CK)

This article deals with the problem of how to construct effective tests based on stated instructional outcomes. (AA)

Proposes a test for change in composite reliability as a result of scale revision or modification. The test, which is useful for examining whether a revision changes the population reliability of a scale undergoing development, is illustrated with two examples. (SLD)

Reviews the history of Frederic Kuder's work in interest measurement and the development of two of his interest inventories currently in use--the Kuder General Interest Survey and the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey. Discusses features of inventories' most recent editions, emphasizing those that distinguish them from other popular interest…

This article describes the development and validation of a test of vocabulary size and strength. The first part of the article sets out the theoretical rationale for the test, and describes how the size and strength constructs have been conceptualized and operationalized. The second part of the article focusses on the process of test validation,…

Schools function primarily on two basic principles. The first focuses on the education of students in cognitive skills, and the second, on the education of students in the social skills. Both are necessary to function successfully within society, the workforce, and the political framework of the country (Fullan, 1993). Although these principles…

The paper gives an overview of multidimensional adaptive testing (MAT) and evaluates its applicability in educational and psychological testing. The approach of Segall (1996) is described as a general framework for MAT. The main advantage of MAT is its capability to increase measurement efficiency. In simulation studies conceptualizing situations…

For over 30 years survey instruments have been used in colleges of higher education to measure instructional effectiveness. Extensive research has been conducted to determine which items best capture this construct. This research study was triggered by a college of education's enthusiastic but failed attempt to create a new and improved instructor…