e mean length of utterance in the Sentence Repetition Task grew from approximately two to three words, and the number of omissions of articles, prepositions and modifiers significantly decreased. After 3;0 years old, omissions of free function words practically disappeared. The results of Study 2 showed that mean length of utterance, omission of…

Measures developed from animal models of aging may detect dementia of the Alzheimer's type in a population at-risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although, by middle age, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) show an extraordinarily high prevalence of AD-type pathology, their severe idiopathic cognitive deficits tend to confound the "clinical"…

This study was conducted in the FL English class of a typical Spanish secondary school. The students translated a short L1 Spanish text into FL English orally as a class, with accompanying dictionary glosses, before writing it down individually. This collaborative translation was supported by the teacher, and any lexical items that were not known…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

The Test of Spoken English (TSE) is an internationally administered instrument for assessing nonnative speakers' proficiency in speaking English. The research foundation of the TSE examination described in its manual refers to two sources of variation other than the achievement being measured: interrater reliability and internal consistency.…

A Monte Carlo approach is proposed, using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) programming language, for estimating reliability coefficients in generalizability theory studies. Test scores are generated by a probabilistic model that considers the probability for a person with a given ability score to answer an item with a given difficulty…

As performance-based assessments have gained wider use, there are increasing concerns about their dependability. This study is a synthesis of existing studies regarding the reliability or generalizability of performance assessments. The meta-analysis involves summarizing, examining, and evaluating research findings. Articles on the dependability…

This digest offers principles of performance assessment as an alternative to norm-referenced tests. The definition of performance assessment developed by the U.S. Congress's Office of Technology and Assessment is given, common features are listed, and the terms "performance" and "authentic" are defined. Suggested guidelines for…

The Test of Phonological Awareness (TOPA) was developed to help identify children who are delayed in their development of phonological awareness. Research supports the theory that children with poor phonological awareness are at risk of later reading difficulties. Children who score in the bottom quartile of the TOPA are considered to be at risk…

This study was conducted with three purposes in mind: (1) to determine the utility of the Colwell Music Achievement Test 3 (MAT3) as an instrument for measuring student instrumental music achievement; (2) to determine the types of musical achievement exhibited by students in Tennessee's secondary music programs; and (3) to determine the utility of…

Modified Parallel Analysis (MPA) is a heuristic method for assessing "approximate unidimensionality" of item pools. It compares the second eigenvalue of the observed correlation matrix with the corresponding eigenvalue extracted from a "parallel" matrix generated by a unidimensional and locally independent model. Revised…

A study examined classroom teachers' and remedial reading teachers' perceptions and knowledge about assessment of disabled readers. Surveys were returned by 198 teachers chosen randomly from the membership roll of the International Reading Association. Twenty-nine nonrespondents were contacted by phone and responded orally: no significant…

The psychometric objections to using essays and other subjective tests for measurement can be overcome by a many-facet Rasch model. This model enables judge-awarded grades to be transformed from their arbitrary, local, non-linear rating scale form into linear measures with explicit generalizable meaning of specifiable reliability (standard error)…

Traditionally, coping and adaptation have been considered synonymous in individual's responses to illness and other stressful situations. The Illness Adaptation Scale (IAS) is a 12-item instrument which was designed to assess adaptational outcomes in illness situations as well as four coping modes (instrumental-self oriented, instrumental-other…

Although the Classroom Observation Scales (COS), which measures general process variables stressed in previous classroom research, showed good stability across years and across contexts within years, they did not show the numbers and kinds of relationships with student learning gains expected on the basis of previous research. (Author/BJG)