The Estes Reading Attitude Scale evidences good internal consistency and solid convergent validity. It is a useful global reactive assessment of school-oriented attitude toward reading in intermediate grades. (Author/SB)

The generalizability and validity of student ratings were examined by studying within-class and between-classes correlations of ratings with other variables for regular faculty and their teaching assistants. Most ratings are generalizable, but only some are related to learning. Certain aspects vary with instructor's role and the level of data.…

Thirty-one court cases are reviewed to determine standards set by the courts in their assessment of the content validity of paper-and-pencil personnel selection tests. Specifically, three major issues are examined: validation strategy, job tasks and requirements, and test development. (Author)

This article discusses an experiment carried out with university English as foreign language students to test the validity of multiple choice examinations for reading comprehension. (CFM)

The development of the Estimate of Self-Competence Scale is described. The instrument was designed to measure generalized expectancy of task success. Reliability and validity data are provided. (Author/JKS)

Standard graphic, behaviorally-anchored, and mixed standard scales were used to investigate the relationships among scale types, instructor leniency, and ratings of college instructors by college students. (JKS)

The benefits of using essay tests rather than objective tests in professional education programs are discussed. Essay tests offer practice in writing, creativity and formal communications. Guidelines for using and scoring a sample essay test in biology are presented. (BH)

Results of the study reported include indications that student evaluations of college instructors tend to be higher when not anonymous and that undergraduate students' evaluations of instructors are lower after course marks are received. Problems associated with the use of student evaluations of instructors are discussed. (JMD)

To examine the premise that an overall cutting score on Basic Medical Sciences (BMS) tests allows medical students to enter clinical training despite deficiencies in certain subjects, cutting scores on four BMS tests were compared with those of discipline subtests. The original premise was not supported. (MH)

Examined the extent to which tutor ratings remained stable in the long term by evaluating 291 ratings of 140 tutors at Maastricht University in the Netherlands between 1992 and 1995. The results indicated that, if the aggregated score and overall judgement are used to interpret the precision of individual scores, four and two occasions,…

This study examined the validity and reliability of the Back Saver Sit-and-Reach test for middle school students. Students completed the test during physical education class. Results indicated that the test was moderately related to hamstring flexibility, but its relationship to lower back flexibility was quite low for both sexes. (SM)

Examines bias in Australian school examinations as it affects learners of languages other than English from different primary language backgrounds. Argues that the determination of whether tests are biased depends on how the test construct is defined and on whom is defining it. This issue is discussed within the context of a plan to compensate…

This study examined the temporal reliability of four quantitative measurements of linguistic behaviors in 20 preschool children observed in a naturalistic setting. Although inadequate reliability was found for the measure which used total number of words, very high reliability coefficients were obtained for the measures which used number of…

This study compared psychometric results on the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II for 187 children and adolescents with mental retardation and 372 intellectually average students. The schedule demonstrated sound psychometric properties for both samples. Mentally retarded subjects scored significantly higher than the comparison sample, and their…

This study evaluated the internal reliability and face validity of a linguistically modified Self-Description Questionnaire and a sign language video presentation of the questionnaire items with 10 deaf students (ages 8 to 13). Results suggest that the modified measure and video presentation are appropriate for use with deaf students without…