Walking is a popular and easily accessible form of physical activity. However, walking instruction for older adults is based on the evidence gathered from younger populations. This study evaluated walking conditions, strength, balance, and subjective health status after a 12-week walking-training program in community-dwelling adults greater than…

Scoring rubrics are routinely used to evaluate the quality of writing samples produced for writing performance assessments, with anchor papers chosen to represent score points defined in the rubric. Although the careful selection of anchor papers is associated with best practices for scoring, little research has been conducted on the role of…

The aim of the study was to translate and test the reliability and validity of the Leeds Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Scale (LMSQoL) in Turkish patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Demographic data of MS patients who had a registration in and followed up by a university hospital were recorded. The LMSQoL and Turkish Quality of Life…

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of scores from six early literacy probes developed for use with preschool-age children. The literacy probes were administered to 84 preschoolers at three time points over a 6-month period. Also, a criterion measure of early literacy skills was administered to a subset of…

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) is a recent revision of the well-known Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). The MABC-2 is designed to identify and describe impairments in motor performance of children and adolescents 3 through 16 years of age. The Performance Test and the Checklist have been…

Purpose: The purposes of these studies were to develop and initially evaluate the psychometric properties of the Reasons for Living Scale-Older Adult version (RFL-OA), an older adults version of a measure designed to assess reasons for living among individuals at risk for suicide. Design and Methods: Two studies are reported. Study 1 involved…

Maintaining standards over time is a much debated topic in the context of national examinations in the UK. This study used a pilot method to compare the demands, over time, of two examination units testing administration. The method involved 15 experts revising a framework of demand types and making paired comparisons of examinations from…

The Child Behavior Scale (CBS) is a teacher-report instrument that was developed over a decade ago as an alternative to more costly methods for assessing children's behavior and peer relations in school contexts. This investigation was undertaken to clarify how well the CBS achieves its aims with a broader age spectrum of youth (6- to…

Speech and language difficulties in British pre-school children from disadvantaged backgrounds have become increasingly prevalent over the last decade. Consequently, there has been a growing demand for a British standardised speech and language screening tool that is reliable and valid. In 2000, to fulfil the need of an appropriate tool that could…

Each year in the United States, thousands of middle school and high school music students and their teachers participate in state or regional solo, ensemble, and large-group vocal activities. Students pursue involvement for various musically extrinsic and intrinsic reasons. Music educators report pressure from parents and administrators as a…

In this study, the authors describe the development and subsequent validation of an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scale for young adults. The authors constructed 2 parallel forms of the scale to assess items that relate directly to "DSM-IV" criteria. Each form comprised Inattention, Hyperactivity, and Impulsivity subscales.…

This article presents a new measure of available time specific to fostering, the Available Time Scale (ATS). It was tested with a national sample of 304 foster mothers and is designed to measure the amount of time foster parents are able to devote to fostering activities. The ATS has excellent reliability, and good support exists for its validity.…

This article reviews three topics from test theory that continue to raise discussion and controversy and capture test theorists' and constructors' interest. The first topic concerns the discussion of the methodology of investigating and establishing construct validity; the second topic concerns reliability and its misuse, alternative definitions…

The huge technological improvement in data processing and the globalization have increased the demand for and the supply of indices that quantify the consequences of a policy. However, there are certain cases in which quantification may be misleading in the sense that it gives the impression of an accurate measurement while in reality it is not.…

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the dramatic consequences the application of cut-off points can have in the practice of identifying gifted individuals. The paradoxical attenuation effect describes the frequent situation in which measurements of the gifts and talents individuals possess are lower than their true values. However, in…