Even in an educational tests and measurements classroom it is possible to stimulate student creativity and divergent thinking. Examples of projects and test constructions are given to provide food for thought for the creative teacher. (JN)

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 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)

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)

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…

Kindergarten children (n=101) were tested on the Bankson Language Test Second Edition and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Revised Screening Test and were given the tests again 7 months later. Results showed that the children scored higher on both tests at the second administration, without intervention from a speech-language…

A brief history of developments in the assessment of the reliability of credentialing examinations is presented, and some new results are outlined that highlight the interactions among scoring, standard setting, and the reliability and validity of pass-fail decisions. Decision consistency is an important concept in evaluating credentialing…

The Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanic Youth (SASH-Y) was used to assess acculturation among 137 fourth- and fifth-grade children in rural southern Colorado, including 11 Mexican, 33 Mexican American, and 93 Euro-American children. The SASH-Y, especially questions related to language use, was found to be robust with a young, rural Latino…

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales for measuring adaptive behavior in adults with mental retardation. It concludes that the advantages of the coverage of the main domains of adaptive behavior, their standardization, impressive psychometrics, and brevity are becoming outweighed by…

Evaluated the reliability and validity of the Child Behavior Scale (CBS), designed to assess behavioral indicators of risk and competence in young children. In the spring and fall, teachers used the CBS to rate their kindergarten children and sociometric measures were administered to children. Found that scores for six CBS subscales were…

Describes development of the Instructor Effectiveness Questionnaire (IEQ). Survey of 234 students participating in canoeing and kayaking at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (North Carolina) found that all 17 teachers received high scores, that the IEQ was able to discriminate between more- and less-effective instructors, and that female instructors…

The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in movement in children (ages birth-3) is described. Results from the use of the Movement General Outcome Measurement with 29 infants and toddlers demonstrated the feasibility of the measure. The 6-minute assessment was found reliable in terms of inter-observer agreement. (Contains…

Claims that standards-based tests neither measure skills and knowledge accurately nor help educators do a better instructional job. The article offers suggestions in four areas to make the tests contribute to improved instruction: measurement of content standards; descriptions of standards; standard-by-standard reporting; and locally administered…