The "Social-Communication Assessment Tool" (S-CAT) was created as a direct observation instrument to quantify specific social and communication deficits of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) within educational settings. In this pilot study, the instrument's content validity and interrater reliability were investigated to determine the…

Research studies have pointed to a similarity between reading and listening that may imply that listening to writing is likely to be a useful means of evaluating it. Therefore a study was designed to determine the extent to which holistic scores assigned to student essays by readers correlate with holistic scores assigned to the same essays by…

The results of this study show that, below ten years of age, stability in IQ scores from group verbal tests is considerably below that for Stanford-Binet. Non-verbal IQ scores were found to have substantially less stability than verbal IQs. (Author/DEP)

Two techniques for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) of test items are compared: (1) item response theory (IRT), using the three-parameter model; and (2) Mantel-Haenszel chi square techniques (MHCS). The steps necessary for identifying differentially functioning items are identified for both approaches. Using data from the 1988…

The question of dividing language proficiency into components was explored by determining which of three models best fit the experimental data: a model postulating numerous specific sources of variance (the extreme divisible model), one postulating a single, large source of variance (the unitary model), or one postulating a large general factor…

A study of the reliability of the proficiency ratings scale and techniques used by three federal government agencies--the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Language Institute, and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI)--to test employees' oral language proficiency in French and German had two randomly selected two-person teams of testers from…

Scales constructed under procedures and criteria outlined by the various traditional and latent trait methods were examined as to whether they varied in characteristics related to scale quality. Scales were constructed from a common pool of items analyzed in full form according to Likert and a one-parameter Rasch model for non-dichotomous data.…

Applied classical measurement theory was used to study the measurement characteristics of Forms A and B of the Finding Embedded Figures Test (FEFT) when the test is administered in a "no-guessing" or "supply" format. Data provided by 69 students at a private university in the southern United States were used. Both forms of the…

A study was conducted to provide insight into the consistency of reading achievement scores from four standardized tests. Several sets of data were compared to assess the accuracy of grade equivalents or instructional reading levels obtained on standardized tests. Each test was randomly assigned for administration to 23 third graders in a group…

The specific performance characteristics of eight alternative cloze test formats were examined at the fourth and sixth grade levels. At each grade, 64 subjects were randomly assigned to one of four basic treatments (every-fifth/standard, every-fifth/cued, total random/standard, and total random/cued) and tested. Responses on each of the cloze…

The purpose of this paper is to describe a specific method of measuring fathers' childrearing involvement. The conceptual scheme underlying the method addresses involvement in routine child care, play with the child, and school-related interactions. Measures involved the father's share of childrearing (as compared with the mother's) and the…

The reliability of four measures of written expression was examined (total words written, mature words, words spelled correctly, and letters in sequence). Subjects included elementary-age students in several school districts, some of whom were learning disabled. Results revealed high coefficients for test-retest reliability, parallel-form…

The distinguishing characteristics and relationships found among the "Analytical Reading Inventory," the "Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty," and the Spache "Diagnostic Reading Scales" in terms of readability levels, oral and silent reading results, and independent and instructional reading levels were examined in a study involving 117 first,…

The purpose of this study was to compare certain characteristics of multiple-choice (MC) and complex multiple-choice (CMC) achievement tests designed to measure knowledge in medical-surgical nursing. Each of 268 junior and senior nursing students from four midwestern schools responded to one of four test forms. MC items were developed by…

The Armed Services vocational aptitude battery (ASVAB) was developed by a joint-service technical group, using items from the services' previously operational tests. The ASVAB was designed as a potential replacement for the Armed Forces Qualification Test and the separate classification batteries used by each of the services. Thus, the…