"What gets assessed is what gets taught" is a common assertion whose meaning is often underestimated. It is not just what gets assessed, but how it is assessed that has implications for what is learned. When a child who is asked the meaning of his report card grades responds, "If I knew that I'd be the teacher" he is saying something about the…

Notes that professionals in need of information often turn to reviews in professional journals. Explains how the review process is supposed to work. Discusses three areas of potential problems and abuses: selection of the wrong reviewer, writing an unsatisfactory review, and the editor's failure to correct either of these problems. Offers…

Describes role of inadequate construct definition in the current problems involving measurement of counseling performance and suggests potential responses for improving measurement capability. Identifies primary task at hand to be deciding upon and describing constructs to measure. (Author/NB)

Reviews approaches for categorizing outcome criterion measures in the human services. Suggests a multidimensional paradigm based on conceptualizations advocated in the literature. Discusses paradigm's implications for rehabilitation practice. (Author/ABL)

As part of the American Psychological Association's centennial, this article presents a reprint of an original work published in 1952 in the "Journal of Consulting Psychology" examining the evidence relating to the actual effects of psychotherapy. (NB)

Presents a consultation model that can serve to diminish the destructive impact of the adversarial process in child custody decisions. The process and procedures described are consonant with what most state statutes suggest as criteria for consideration in custody decisions and promote the best interests of the children. (JAC)

Notes that many employers use student's grade point average (GPA) as the criterion for interviewee selection, presenting problems for students who may have gotten low grades early in their college careers but higher grades later. Presents a formula for deriving an "equivalent GPA" for such students by taking into account education, experience, and…

Describes approach used in evaluating over 100 child victims of sexual assault. Describes specific measures and includes case example of their use in planning and evaluating counseling for sexually abused child. Pays attention to procedures that can be followed when mental health counselor is providing service as member of community-based child…

Critiques and discusses 10 measures of burden that have been used with caregivers of individuals with dementia. Claims that, although many measures contain reliability data, relatively few report content validity, convergent/divergent validity, criterion validity, or sensitivity to change. Discusses implications for research and practice.…

Observes the increasing use of class test scores for rating teachers and reviews arguments against this practice. Cites research pointing to a variety of influences on standardized test scores other than teacher performance. Concludes that teacher evaluation must incorporate a variety of measures. (KH)

Discusses the experience of the 4-H program with the challenging Federally mandated evaluation. Explores how tensions around both design integrity and practicality were manifested and how this conflict affected a large scale evaluation. Also describes the design that 4-H employed to respond to the Congressional evaluation mandate. (Author/GC)

Explores how to design effective admissions rating system by looking at selection of academic and personal measures, derivation of academic rating, personal rating, accounting for different testing patterns, and other advantages. Emphasizes importance of ensuring students that their folders will be reviewed in their entirety and that review…

Presents case reports to illustrate importance of technique of transtelephonic cardiac monitoring in home care and use of technique to provide objective marker upon which physicians' decisions could be made. (Author/NB)

Provides a model for incorporating counseling evaluation concerns such as data on the counselor's instructional behaviors, client adherence to the counseling intervention and client change. Points out that much of the research on counselor effectiveness focuses on counselor characteristics rather than building the case that counseling services are…

Reviews the student services evaluation literature and presents a metamodel for selecting evaluation models. The metamodel is based on the comparison of the common dimensions of all evaluation models. Identifies five common dimensions that collectively determine the usefulness of any evaluation model. (RC)