The success of early intervention programs has in large part spurred increasing emphasis on identifying children with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) at the earliest possible ages. National and international professional groups have called for early screening and diagnosis, yet the technology to…

This study compared traditional and multimedia-enhanced read-aloud vocabulary instruction and investigated whether the effects differed for English-language learners (ELLs) and non-English-language learners (non-ELLs). Results indicate that although there was no added benefit of multimedia-enhanced instruction for non-ELLs, there was a positive…

In educational research, characteristics of the learning environment (e.g., social climate, instructional quality, goal orientation) are often assessed via student reports, and their associations with outcome variables such as school achievement or student motivation then tested. However, studying the effects of the learning environment presents a…

In this study, the purpose was to determine whether there was concordance among raters in the assessment of the writing performance using analytic rubric; furthermore, factors affecting the assessment process were examined. The analytic rubric used in the study consists of three sections and ten properties: External structure (format, spelling and…

The aim of this paper was to validate the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), presenting evidence of its reliability and construct and criterion-related validity. A large Brazilian sample (2,180 participants), from five different populations (undergraduate and high school students, general population,…

The objective of this paper is to report the development and use of an observation checklist to identify typically developing children with behavioural manifestations associated with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. This measure is termed the Scope Classroom Observation Checklist (SCOC). The SCOC was developed, assessed for reliability…

Let R be an associative ring which has a multiplicative identity element but need not be commutative. Let f(X) = a[subscript n]X[superscript n] + a[subscript n-1]X[superscript n-1] + ... + a[subscript 0] [is a member of] R[X] and [alpha] [is a member of] R. It is known that there exist uniquely determined q(X) = b[subscript n-1]X[superscript n-1]…

The model-based view (MBV) of science education, which strives for authenticity in science teaching, is currently seeking support from the philosophical positions related to the Semantic View of Theories (SVT). These recent advances are promising steps towards establishing a robust philosophical framework, but they need revision in so far as they…

Learning styles are incorporated more and more in e-education, mostly in order to provide adaptivity with respect to the learning styles of students. For identifying learning styles, at the present time questionnaires are widely used. While such questionnaires exist for most learning style models, their validity and reliability is an important…

This study investigated the effects of high front (HF) vowels and low back (LB) vowels on inter-listener and intra-listener reliability in rating hypernasality. Audio recorded samples of two sentences, one containing only high front vowels and one containing only low back vowels, were judged by two expert listeners. Speakers were 25 children; 20…

This paper serves as an illustration of the usefulness of structurally incomplete designs as an approach to reduce the length of educational questionnaires. In structurally incomplete test designs, respondents only fill out a subset of the total item set, while all items are still provided to the whole sample. The scores on the unadministered…

This paper describes the development of a video-based evaluation tool for use in Rett syndrome (RTT). Components include a parent-report checklist, and video filming and coding protocols that contain items on eating, drinking, communication, hand function and movements, personal care and mobility. Ninety-seven of the 169 families who initially…

The primary function of an evaluation is often to assess the degree of success of a program or to collect information that may be used to improve a program, product, or service. To meet an evaluation's goals and objectives by using an online survey, it is imperative that the questionnaire contain valid and reliable items asked about specific…

Comparisons were made among various methods of estimating the reliability of pass-fail decisions based on mastery tests. The reliability indices that are considered are p, the proportion of agreements between two estimates, and kappa, the proportion of agreements corrected for chance. Estimates of these two indices were made on the basis of…

There are few existing or widely known measures of agreement applicable when data is nominal or categorical. Most such coefficients are applicable only when judges classify objects or subjects into a single category. A wider range of applications, including those where judges (1) place probabilities on subjects belonging to mutually exclusive and…