The psychometric properties of objective tests administered in two testing conditions were compared, using an experimental take-home testing condition and a traditional in-class testing condition. Subjects were 290 college students in a basic educational psychology course who took a test developed and tested the previous semester. Two equivalent…

This study examined the reliability and construct validity of two types of measures of mastery motivation for elementary school children: a new version of the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaires (DMQ) and behavioral mastery tasks. Participating were 64 mostly middle class and Caucasian 7- and 10-year-olds living in a middle-sized western city.…

This resource guide, second in a series of three volumes, is a compilation of assessment instruments, tools, or checklists. These instruments were submitted by active professionals in the field of assistive technology and demonstrate the range of instrumentation in use today. Each item submitted is reviewed according to a standard format that…

The reliability of four branching algorithms commonly used in computer adaptive testing (CAT) was examined. These algorithms were: (1) maximum likelihood (MLE); (2) Bayesian; (3) modal Bayesian; and (4) crossover. Sixty-eight undergraduate college students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions using the HyperCard-based CAT program,…

This paper addresses the cross-cultural development and use of the Behavior Description Index (BDI). The development of culturally-transportable scales; cross-cultural comparisons of results for 12 Spanish, 15 Hungarian, 15 Indonesian, and U.S. managers; and the transportability of competencies as constructs are considered. A competency is an…

The criteria for accreditation and reaffirmation published by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) have been developed to assist institutions in evaluating their effectiveness. In this study, the criteria are reviewed. An instrument to assess the Southern Association criteria was developed based on input from the association's…

Problems in the testing of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are examined, focusing on proficiency testing needs and test standardization. Particular attention is paid to listening and reading assessment. The first part of the discussion looks at specific problems with five existing proficiency tests, including such aspects as inadequacy of the…

This paper describes the development and test of an early-warning instrument for identifying at-risk students aged 10-15. A statistically sound test to identify at-risk high school students existed in the Personal Skills Map--Adolescent version (PSMA-A). This study used a modified version of PSM-A , which was renamed Personal Skills for…

This study reviews the literature on the social and behavioral characteristics of only children in China. Of 16 studies that reported differences in the characteristics of only and non-only children, only 2 indicated that only children exhibited more socially desirable behaviors than did non-only children. The remaining studies reported that,…

H. W. Marsh's monograph (1987) on students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness in higher education is summarized. The research, which emphasized the construct validity approach, led to the development of the Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument. Factor analysis resulted in identification of nine SEEQ factors--learning…

Currently available measures of self-efficacy described in educational and psychological research literature were cataloged and reviewed after a literature search. To identify and locate these measures, searches of "Psychological Abstracts" and the ERIC system were conducted using self-efficacy and related keywords. Results of the…

The development and validation of two instruments which measure attitudes and self-efficacy of teacher education students and practicing teachers toward computer use are described. One instrument--Attitudes toward Computer Technologies (ACT)--assesses perceived usefulness of and comfort/anxiety with computer technologies. The second…

This document reviews 49 assessment measures that were designed for, or could be used with, pre-school children between the ages of three and five. The assessments have been classified into the following categories: (1) cognitive skills, (2) language, (3) social adjustment and behavior, (4) physical skills, (5) developmental and clinical measures,…

The question of how standardized tests can be better developed to improve educational program evaluation is probed in this paper. After the first section's brief introduction, section 2 explores the thesis that tests developed in terms of selection and inference may not serve current social functions of educational testing. To clarify this thesis,…

The Parenting Stress Index (PSI) is a clinical and research self-report instrument (101 items) designed as a screening and diagnostic assessment technique to identify parent and child systems which are under stress, and in which deviant development of the child is likely to take place, or where dysfunctional parenting is likely to occur. The PSI…