The "Self-Determination Inventory--Student Report" (SDI-SR) was developed to address the need in the field for new, theoretically aligned measures of self-determination. The purpose of this study was to establish the most robust and efficient set of items to assess the self-determination of adolescents with and without disabilities on…

The factor structure of the CORE Phonics Survey was analyzed using a sample of 165 students in upper elementary school with specific learning disabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify the hypothesized constructs of the CORE Phonics Survey and predictive validity of the CORE Phonics Survey to predict students' success in word…

Specific learning disabilities are one of the most common and debilitating disorders experienced by children and adolescents, and students with specific learning disabilities may be particularly vulnerable to anxiety. The Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Second Edition (RCMAS-2) is a newly revised measure of chronic, manifest anxiety…

The purpose of this study was to determine the constructs measured by the WISC-IV and the consistency of measurement across large normative and clinical samples. Competing higher order four- and five-factor models were analyzed using the WISC-IV normative sample and clinical subjects. The four-factor solution is the model published with the test…

Irish educational psychologists frequently use the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth U.K. Edition (WISC-IV[superscript UK]) in clinical assessments of children with learning difficulties. Unfortunately, reliability and validity studies of the WISC-IV[superscript UK] have not yet been reported. This study examined the construct…

Given the paucity of research on factors associated with motivation in learning disabled college students, the present study investigated the motivation levels in college students with learning disabilities. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) has been validated cross-nationally and across all educational age groups of students having various…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills with a sample of adult basic education (ABE) learners, including both native and nonnative English speakers, and to describe the performance of those learners on the measures. Investigation of measures of reading components…

The articles in this special issue make two important contributions to our understanding of the impact of accommodations on test score validity. First, they illustrate a variety of methods for collection and rigorous analyses of empirical data that can supplant expert judgment of the impact of accommodations. These methods range from internal…

This dissertation consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the self-determination literature documenting the importance of promoting the self-determination of transition and secondary age students with disabilities, as well as a summary of research examining the self-determination of students with disabilities across…

The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy in forensic clinical practice, but the generalizability of the measure to offenders with intellectual disabilities (ID) has not been clearly established. This study examined the structural equivalence and scalar equivalence of the PCL-R in a sample of 185 male…

This study compared the underlying factors measured by a state standards-based grade 4 English-Language Arts (ELA) assessment given to several groups of students. The focus of the research was to gather evidence regarding whether or not the tests measured the same construct or constructs for students without disabilities who took the test under…

This study examined the scores on a state standards-based Grade 5 Science assessment obtained by a group of students without learning disabilities who took the standard form of the test and by three groups of students with learning disabilities: one taking the standard form of the test without accommodations or modifications, a second taking the…

Based on the premises that strength-based assessment of children and adolescents is an important emerging area, and that additional tools for this purpose are needed, this study details development and validation efforts on a new strength-based assessment: the Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scale, parent form (SEARS-P). Following careful…

Accommodation policymaking and practice should be guided by empirical research and informed clinical judgment. Findings from our study can provide information to test users about the validity of inferences that can be made from scores obtained from accommodated test administrations for students with disabilities. The factor structure of the newly…

The psychometric properties of the Hopelessness Scale for Children (A. Kazdin et al., 1983) were examined for children and adolescents with mental retardation or a learning disability. Analyses of scores from 261 students shows a factor structure almost identical to the original structure and scale scores of adequate validity. (SLD)