Various factors such as regulatory body mandates, graduate employability challenges, decreasing student engagement and increasing academic misconduct in higher education have motivated universities to explore alternative approaches to teach and assess. Accordingly, the oral assessment has taken precedence in many contexts as a popular form of…

Geography educators have been, and continue to be, interested in spatial thinking, especially since they have been convinced of its importance in their students' ability to learn and do geography. As they developed strategies to improve students' spatial thinking, they searched for assessment instruments to evaluate their interventions' effects.…

In this report I share the results of a document-based, comparative case study aimed at increasing our understanding about the potential utility of state kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs) to provide evidence of English learner (EL) kindergartners' knowledge and skills and, in turn, inform kindergarten teachers' instruction. Using a sample of 9…

Context: An emphasis on knowledge and skill competency acquisition continues to gain importance in allied health professions. Accuracy and fairness in the summative assessment of competencies are essential to ensure student competence. A positive demonstration of validity, reliability, and authentic quality criteria are needed to achieve…

States are increasingly interested in including measures of student achievement growth, or "value- added," in evaluating teachers. Annual state assessments, however, which are the typical measure of student growth, usually cover only reading and math teachers and only in grades 4-8. These state assessments thus cannot …

The author traces reasons to support his contention that the state of the art in assessing learning disabled students is not good. Among issues examined are the following: use of tests for purposes other than those for which they were intended; technical adequacy of currently used tests (standardization, reliability, validity); the use of deficit…

Provides a critical and comparative evaluation of the five most commonly used published rating scales for the assessment of ADHD. Reviews were conducted in four main areas: content and use, standardization sample and norms, scores and interpretation, and psychometric properties. Scales with the strongest standardization samples and evidence for…

Examination of the role of psychometrics in the development of multiple-choice tests and performance-based assessments and consideration of validity and reliability issues leads to this conclusion: Choice of assessments for instruction or large-scale accountability depends on which is more appropriate for the particular purposes. Taxonomic…

This is a general discussion of the validity, reliability, function, and format of questionnaires designed to measure problem behavior, noncompliance, anxiety, social interaction, hyperactivity, drug use, and sexual behavior. Commonly used questionnaires are cited. (CP)

Each of the many methods or approaches to assessing student learning is based on a clear understanding of validity, reliability, course objectives, the advantages and disadvantages of different evaluation formats, and the ways assessment data will be used to improve instruction. (Author/MSE)

Teachers need valid information to judge the types of programs, instruction, and colleges best suited to students. Teachers appear to support the use of standardized tests to provides some of that information. Abolishing such tests may lead to dependence on more subjective measures, resulting in inequities in placement and selection. (FG)

Describes the Dyslexia Early Screening Test (DEST) and the Cognitive Profiling System, both normed and designed to be administered to children four years and older. Reliability and validity of the tests are discussed, as well as their use to identify children at risk before they fail. (Author/CR)

Argues that, in determining if a standardized test task and a classroom performance task are the same, educators should carefully analyze the tasks in terms of the input modality (stimulus) and the output modality (response). (FL)

This article discusses evidence for functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures in terms of the meaning and interpretation of different forms of reliability and validity in FBA. It concludes that additional research needs to be conducted with various target behaviors across different settings to support the continued use of FBA. (Contains…

This article examines assessment instruments, measurement considerations, and factors that affect understanding of a child's creativity. It compares strengths and weaknesses of methods of assessing creativity and lists more than 60 standardized assessment measures. Procedures for using formal and informal measures in the decision-making process…