Recent years have brought a major shift in the field of international comparative education with the rise of quantitative assessments of student achievement. Within these studies, outside-school-time (OST) as a supplement and complement to schooling has been included. However, OST is difficult to define and measure; and challenges multiply when…

In 1991, Bracken and Barona wrote an article for "School Psychology International" focusing on state of the art procedures for translating and using tests across multiple languages. Considerable progress has been achieved in this area over the 25 years between that publication and today. This article seeks to provide a more current set…

The IEA's International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) investigates the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries in the second decade of the 21st century. ICCS 2016 is the second cycle of a study initiated in 2009. This technical report follows the publication of several…

Melvyn C. Goldstein, an anthropologist at Case Western Reserve University, has spent 40 years, off and on, collecting oral histories from Tibet. As rural Tibetans who have endured decades of tumult approach old age, Goldstein, who is also a director of the university's Center for Research on Tibet, has preserved their stories. He has interviewed…

The development and validation of the English-Spanish Verbatim Translation Exam (ESVTE) is described. The test is for use by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the selection of applicants for the positions of Language Specialist or Contract Linguist. The report is divided into eight sections. Section 1 describes the need for the test,…

Discusses ways of designing software to minimize the problems associated with translating the users interface from English into a foreign language. The Examiner, a test development and delivery system that was translated from English into Dutch, is used as an example, and both its design and its implementation are described. (LRW)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a Mexican version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test could be improved by directly translating both forms of the American test, then using decision procedures to select the better item of each pair. The reliability of the simple translations suffered. (Author/BW)

The development and validation of the Spanish-English Verbatim Translation Exam (SEVTE) is described. The test is for use by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the selection of applicants for the positions of Language Specialist or Contract Linguist. The report is divided into eight sections. Section 1 describes the need for the test,…

Whatever the purpose of test adaptation, questions arise concerning the validity of inferences from such adapted tests. This paper considers several advantages and disadvantages of adapting tests from one language and culture to another. The paper also reviews several sources of error or invalidity associated with adapting tests and suggests ways…

In 2002, the National Center for Health Statistics conducted Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), surveying a nationally representative sample of 12,500 women and men from 15 to 44 years of age, including more than 2,700 Hispanics. The process for developing the Spanish version of the NSFG included modified committee…

Presents a methodology developed by Vallerand (1989) in the psychological field that translates and validates questionnaires and inventories developed for specific cultures. This cross- cultural technique ensures that the instrument will provide data that are valid and reliable in the target population. Seven necessary steps are defined, and…

The development and validation of a test of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) proficiency are described. The measure is a multiple-choice test based on translation of a literary text from English to Arabic and vice versa. Intended for rapid student placement, it is seen as overcoming most of the defects inherent in traditional translation tests.…

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) is the new Massachusetts state assessment program that is being implemented in response to state education reform legislation. The paper describes the early efforts of the state Department of Education (MDOE), its prime contractor for development of the MCAS (Advanced Systems in Measurement…