Three papers address issues in course evaluation and assessment of student performance in language awareness programs. The first paper concentrates on the formative evaluation of a course, during its design phase or in progress. It focuses on self-evaluation and two features of course design considered essential to course integrity: explicitness…

This study compares a self-assessment instrument and achievement test containing the same questions and administered at different levels of proficiency in order to investigate the reliability of second language self-assessment for student placement, diagnostic purposes, and achievement testing. Subjects were English as a Foreign Language students…

Four writing samples were obtained from 638 foreign college applicants who represented three major foreign language groups (Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish), and from 60 native English speakers. All four were scored holistically, two were also scored for sentence-level and discourse-level skills, and some were scored by the Writer's Workbench…

A study was undertaken to improve the measurement of small team performance within the Army. A provisional taxonomy of team-level performance functions was field-validated; criteria and measures of the functions were developed; and their reliability was examined. The provisional taxonomy, used for observing Army field training exercises, was used…

The paper describes how certain questionnaire items concerning teacher-claimed behavior might define a teacher's effort to maintain order in the classroom. Subjects consisted of 255 secondary school teachers teaching in examination classes (Forms 3 and 5) at 15 schools in the District of Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia). The teachers responded to a…

In 1980-81 field tests were undertaken in North Carolina to develop a procedure for making writing competency a minimum requirement for graduation from high school. Measuring writing skills with adequate validity and reliability requires planning for data collection and varied scoring methods, personnel training, dissemination of assessment…

This document accompanies the Conceptual Learning and Development Assessment Series IV: Noun, a test constructed to chart the conceptual development of individuals. As a technical manual, it contains information on the rationale, development, standardization, and reliability of the test, as well as essential information and statistical data for…

The ability of the Perceptual-Motor-Rating Scale to indicate changes in regular classroom performance resulting from individualized perceptual-motor training by physical education specialists was statistically analyzed. Efforts were made to identify factors, confirm their independence, optimize scoring procedures and assess reliability.…

The development of two new rating scales, a classroom observation schedule and a comparable student self-report questionnaire, is described. Both instruments are designed to measure group self-concept, defined as a social structure exhibiting interactions which indicate values, attitudes, and beliefs that determine the self-perception of a group,…

Appropriateness indexes (statistical formulas) for detecting suspiciously high or low scores on aptitude tests were presented, based on a simulation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) with 3,000 simulated scores--2,800 normal and 200 suspicious. The traditional index--marginal probability--uses a model for the normal examinee's test-taking…

The Classroom Behavior Description (CBD)--a brief 10-item checklist on which teachers rate preschool childrens' behaviors which are considered most likely to influence school performance--was developed on the basis of earlier extensive research with more comprehensive children's behavior inventories. Results are reported of studies of teachers'…

A study was conducted at North Harris County College to determine the extent to which its Developmental Studies Program (DSP) was meeting stated goals and to assess the predictive reliability of the screening tests used to place incoming students in DSP courses. The study involved: (1) an assessment of the need for the DSP program as evidenced by…

Language arts teachers participated in an inservice program, The Writer's Clinic, and evaluated their students' improvement in writing ability using holistic essay scoring techniques. Seventh and eighth grade students were administered an essay composition pretest in December; the same essay topic was given as the post test in May. Students were…

The Student Achievement Diagnostic Questionnaire (SADQ) is described as measuring: (1) student self concept of ability in English, mathematics, science, and social studies; (2) student attitudes toward their teachers in each of the subjects; (3) student perception of the expectations these teachers have for student achievement in these subjects;…

Widely used measures of creativity are reviewed and classified into ten categories: tests of divergent thinking; attitude and interest inventories; personality inventories; biographical inventories; teacher nominations; peer nominations; supervisor ratings; judgments of products; nomination of eminent persons; and self-reported creative activities…