Describes the construction of an interest inventory for nurses and the determination of its reliability and validity. This study concentrates on only the clinical areas. Data support the hypothesis that a higher level of occupational choice satisfaction can be predicted following interest-based specialization choices. (CT)

Describes the Career Adjustment and Development Inventory: its content and construction, its reliability and validity, its applicability and use, and its future directions. (CT)

Presents ideas on developing a diagnostic accounting instrument, and answers the following questions: Are the diagnostic instruments given to accounting students measuring what they should measure? What advice can be given to students regarding questions that were missed? (CT)

This paper describes development of the Intervention Stressors Inventory, a scale measuring the level of stress that sexually abused children experience from various interventions, such as police interviews, social worker interviews, placement in foster care, and testimony in court. Interviews with 254 sexually abused children and their parents…

The final report describes a project to facilitate the efficiency with which legally blind persons use their remaining vision. The project developed a diagnostic assessment procedure, a design for instruction which includes 150 sequenced lessons, and a sourcebook on low vision. The reliability and validity of the diagnostic assessment procedure…

The development of the Asperger Syndrome (and high-functioning autism) Diagnostic Interview (ASDI) is described. Preliminary data from a clinical study of 20 individuals (ages 6-55) suggest that interrater reliability and test-retest stability may be excellent, with kappas exceeding 0.90 in both instances. The validity appears to be relatively…

An 18-item "Shortened Visuospatial Questionnaire" (SVS) was validated twice, first by verifying that children (ages 8-13) identified with the SVS questionnaire as having visuospatial learning disability (VSLD) (n=54) actually showed visuospatial deficits on psychometric evaluation, and second, by rating with the SVS a clinically identified…

Reports on the development and validation of a standardized test, entitled Competency Inventory on Vocational Education for the Handicapped, which was designed to measure the knowledge vocational education teachers possess about teaching handicapped students in regular vocational education programs. (CT)

Students generally do better on outcome-based performance tasks than on domain-specific tasks. Results on performance tasks must be interpreted in the context of instruction or guidance provided before or during their administration. Reliability is sometimes questionable, since teachers are highly influenced by students' overall academic…

Offers information on the sexual abuse of children and its prevention. Describes a study to validate an instrument to assess children's acquisition of knowledge about personal security and the prevention of sexual abuse as presented in the Child Abuse Research and Education (CARE) program in Montreal, Quebec. Confirms the validity of the program…

Describes United States literacy characteristics, based on April 2000 reports from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Discusses Angoff methods for evaluating validity of high-stakes testing programs in Massachusetts and Virginia. (MLH)

This report describes one segment of the Federal Language Testing Board's Unified Language Testing Plan (ULTP), the validation of speaking proficiency tests in Spanish and English. The ULTP is a project to increase standardization of foreign language proficiency measurement and promote sharing of resources among testing programs in the federal…

This study involved the development, validation, and use of the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ), which measures classroom environment perceptions along dimensions (Personalization, Participation, Independence, Investigation, Differentiation) which differentiate individualized classes from conventional ones. The ICEQ…

Describes the development of a behaviorally based performance appraisal system for assessing the performance of highway patrol personnel. The items in the present scale were developed to describe proficiency levels of specific job tasks. This characteristic is expected to enhance the objectivity of the evaluation system. (Author)

This study reports on the standardization of the Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance. Data collected on 2,266 typical students (ages 5- 18) and 1,371 students with emotional disturbances led to the identification of six behavioral problem factors that correspond to the federal definition of emotional disturbance and were highly internally…