The development of an educational outcome expectations scale was prompted by a need for a measure tailored to college students' expected level of educational attainment. Studies were conducted in an undergraduate psychology course at a midwestern university. Participants (383 women, 276 males) attending a group counseling session completed a…

The main purpose of this study was to illustrate a polytomous IRT-based linking procedure that adjusts for rater variations. Test scores from two administrations of a statewide reading assessment were used. An anchor set of Year 1 students' constructed responses were rescored by Year 2 raters. To adjust for year-to-year rater variation in IRT…

This methodological report documents the design, development, and psychometric characteristics of the assessment instruments used in the third grade data collection of the ECLS-K. The instruments examined include those developed to measure cognitive and socioemotional development. In addition, issues in analyzing longitudinal measures are…

The Texas "Families First" project was started to accomplish the following: (1) strengthen the capacity of local family literacy projects to design, support, and administer high quality programs by leveraging resources from several agencies in the state; and (2) finalize the indicators of program quality (IPQs) in early childhood…

This paper describes the outcomes of a study that explored the significance of the Severity of Illness Rating Scale (SIRS) as a tool for utilization review and program evaluation. The SIRS was first introduced in March 1993 and soon became the centerpiece for the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center's Utilization Review Plan. Since its…

This paper discusses the results of a study that investigated the reliability and validity of the Youth Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (YCSQ). The YCSQ is administered as a telephone interview, which provides a higher response rate than mailed surveys. Participants in the study were 87 clients (ages 11-17) and their parents who had completed…

This study compared three spelling interventions to increase the spelling accuracy of elementary students with learning disabilities. Thirty-six randomly selected third, fourth, and fifth grade students with learning disabilities were assigned to three interventions: (1) the traditional spelling procedure; (2) a multisensory procedure without…

Since the publication of the highly influential "Coleman Report" of 1966, researchers have tried to find inputs, such as school quality, that are associated with student achievement on standardized tests, but have found little. This study finds an underlying association between Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and several measures of…

Determined reliability/usefulness of a simple anxiety measure administered to 2,068 grade eight and nine students. Also found relationships between anxiety and such classroom characteristics as participation, teacher support, and competition. Suggests use of the measure in guiding teachers to change classrooms to reduce student anxiety. (JN)

Results support the use of the Developmental Drama Scale to determine levels of student involvement in developmental drama. From this research, an image emerges of the student highly involved in drama as right-brained with high self-monitoring and acting skills. (PD)

The effectiveness of several methods used to identify intellectually superior black children was evaluated. Findings suggest that less commonly used identification methods, such as parents' opinion and the Leiter International Performance Scale, may point out these children more accurately than do traditional measures. (Author/PP)

Jean Piaget's theories about children's cognitive development are applied to the evaluation of childhood psychosis. Problems with the testing of such children are described, and results of a research project that used the Piaget-inspired Uzgiris and Hunt Ordinal Scales of Psychological Development to assess autistic children's cognitive processes…

Data from test instruments developed to measure student progress in a decision-making approach to values education suggest that either current methods of decision-making instruction are ineffective or that the adolescent years are a stagnant period for growth in this domain. (Author/CM)

Relationships between levels of classroom individualization (personalization, participation, independence, investigation, and differentiation) and seven science-related attitudes of junior high school students (N=712) were examined. The study also provided support for the reliability and validity of the two instruments used and for their general…

Describes the development of the College Freshman Adjustment Scale (CFAS) which enables deans and counselors to pinpoint quickly those areas of college life which may be generative of the problems college freshmen may experience. The CFAS was developed for two general areas: personal-social adjustment and academic adjustment. (Author/RC)