While increasing agricultural literacy (AL) has been the focus of numerous educational programs, few AL scales have been developed specifically for children. AL programming struggles to rigorously evaluate their programs, particularly when little time is available for assessments in informal contexts. The lack of evaluation tools that allow to…

This article reports on the development and initial validation of the Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Self-Efficacy Scale. Data from 380 preservice and inservice teachers were used to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument. Exploratory factor analysis results suggested a one-factor structure consisting of 35 items and the…

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive…

Within a developmental framework, this study compared the predictive validity of three DIBELS tasks (phoneme segmentation fluency [PSF], nonsense word fluency [NWF], and oral reading fluency [ORF]) with that of three alternative tasks drawn from the field of reading (phonemic spelling [phSPEL], word recognition-timed [WR-t], and graded passage…

Kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs) have increasingly been incorporated into state education policies over the past 5 years, with much of this interest stemming from Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) awards, Enhanced Assessment Grants, and nationwide efforts to develop common K-12 state learning standards. Drawing on…

The Climate Change Attitude Survey is composed of 15 Likert-type attitudinal items selected to measure students' beliefs and intentions toward the environment with a focus on climate change. This paper describes the development of the instrument and psychometric performance characteristics including reliability and validity. Data were gathered…

The purpose of this research was to examine how teacher disposition affects student academic performance through the validity and reliability of a quantitative inventory instrument: The Teacher Dispositions Index [TDI] that measures the dispositions of effective teachers specified by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium.

Describes the theoretical framework, measurement properties, predictive power, and reliability and validity of the Drug Education School Evaluation Instrument (DESEI), used to determine the effectiveness of the North Carolina Drug Education Schools. The DESEI is included. (BH)

Study tested the validity of a high inference principal-administered rating scale, the North Carolina Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument. Researchers examined the relationship of its ratings to student achievement, nonachievement student variables, and teacher variables. Results indicate principals can become valid raters of teacher…

The North Carolina Project for Reform in Science Education, which is part of the National Science Teachers Association's Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project, and the importance of student test scores as an evaluation tool were evaluated. Seven North Carolina schools participated in the project's first year (1991-92), with 21 teachers, and…

In this final report of an 18-month series of projects designed to investigate the validity of the General Knowledge (GK) and Communications Skills (CS) tests of the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) for North Carolina, highlights and major conclusions are summarized and appropriate standards of performance are recommended. Evidence was…