The last comprehensive study to examine the assessment practices promoted by school psychology programs was published 25 years ago (i.e., Wilson & Reschly, 1996). Since then, significant changes to assessment theory and practice have occurred. Data from a 2020 survey of directors of school psychology programs were collected to gain an…

Drawing on Glenn Fulcher's extensive work in performance-based language assessment of speaking, this paper explores the assessment of L2 speaking ability in local language testing contexts. For that purpose, I review Fulcher's influential work that highlights the relationship between the speaking construct, the task, the performance, and the…

Critical language assessment (CLA) has been addressed in numerous studies. However, the majority of the studies have overlooked the need for a practical framework to measure the CLA dimension of teachers' language assessment literacy (LAL). This gap prompted us to develop and validate a critical language assessment literacy (CLAL) scale to further…

The first article in this section, "Rating Scales and Shared Meaning," by Winifred A. Lopez, discusses the analysis of rating scale data. The second article, "Rating Scale Categories: Dichotomy, Double Dichotomy, and the Number Two," by Mark H. Stone, argues that dichotomies in rating scales are more useful than multiple…

The Quality of Study Rating Form incorporates principles of meta-analysis to rate key features in a social work evaluation study. The method is described, a test of its reliability is outlined, and its potential applications are discussed. (MSE)

The scale invariance of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory was examined when 412 children were rated by parents on functioning at home and the same children were rated by rehabilitation personnel in an educational setting. Results indicated that parents and personnel can be trained to make similar judgments. (SLD)

Using participants in a continuing education conference, an experiment was conducted to examine: (1) the consistency of self-ratings of ability across four different measurement conditions; and, (2) the relative leniency of retrospective pretest self-ratings compared to pretest self-ratings. Implications for evaluators are discussed. (Author/BS)

Distinguishes between school and class environment, examining research on teachers' perception of school environment and students' perception of classroom environment. Describes the Work Environment Scale and the School-Level Environment Questionnaire, and reports on the use of these instruments in investigating differences between high school and…

This study was designed to collect and then to compare various educators' perceptions (N=484) of the effectiveness of selected standardized testing program management practices in their schools. It was found that these educators perceived their schools' performance of testing-related practices to be more effective than the schools' overall…

Data are presented that demonstrate the reliability and construct validity of a 27-item behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) used to rate the performance of 757 nursing assistants in South Carolina. Results support the reliability and construct validity of the BARS and the usefulness of the BARS approach for evaluation. (SLD)

A handbook designed to acquaint college and university language departments with recent developments in oral proficiency testing gives an overview of the rationale, development, procedures, and implications of oral proficiency evaluation. The discussion is placed in the context of college and university language teaching. An overview section…

An alternative assessment instrument developed to assess oral language skills of students in Spanish immersion programs in the United States is described. Originally developed by the Center for Applied Linguistic to evaluate 6-year-old immersion students' speaking and listening skills in a school in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Student Oral…

A variety of assessment methods and instruments can and should be used to evaluate the performance of individuals and groups. Some possible assessments are described, including (1) adaptive testing; (2) anecdotal records; (3) assessment centers; (4) behavioral checklists; (5) behaviorally anchored rating scales; (6) checklists; (7) computerized…