The proper use of psychological tests requires that the measurement instruments have adequate psychometric properties, such as reliability and validity, and that the professionals who use the instruments have the necessary expertise. In this article, we present the first review of tests published in Spain, carried out with an assessment model…

Paul Newton (2010), with his characteristic concern about theory, has set out two different ways of thinking about the basis upon which equivalences of one sort or another are established between test score scales. His reason for doing this is a desire to establish "the defensibility of linkages lower on the continuum than concordance."…

This article presents the author's rejoinder to thinking about linking from issue 8(1). Particularly within the more embracing linking frameworks, e.g., Holland & Dorans (2006) and Holland (2007), there appears to be a major disjunction between (1) classification discourse: the supposed basis for classification, that is, the underlying theory…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

Newton's article (2010) makes three main contributions to the literature. First, it is transatlantic, bringing together literatures that have been dealing with similar problems, using sometimes different methods and certainly with distinctive educational, cultural perspectives. He points out that neither of these literatures has all of the…

The article "Thinking About Linking" by Newton (2010) presents a novel philosophical perspective on the way that educational assessments should be linked. Newton starts by describing the linking framework as it was characterized in various publications and identifies a cross-cultural dimension in the definitions and uses of test…

Examines the utility of the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) as a measure of child day care quality at eight child care centers in New Zealand. Notes discrepancies between findings of this study and of other studies in quality levels and items predictive of centers' total ECERS score. (RJC)

Some 1,620 Australian high school students responded to 68 items that measure adolescent stressors. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop and test a model leading to the High School Stressors Scale. This scale, which has sound construct and predictive validity and adequate reliability, can be a useful instrument for studying…

Assessment and testing associated with implementation of the national curriculum developed by the British Department of Education and Science (London) are reviewed. Topics addressed include: profile components in the assessment framework, assessment and testing methods, bias in assessments, assurance of confidence in national assessment,…

The use of language proficiency rating scales in Australian school language programs is discussed, focusing primarily on the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR), the only direct instrument developed in Australia that is in widespread use and that has been extensively tested. It is also the only one developed for use with a…

The Learner Report (LR) (A. D. De Groot, 1974) is an instrument to identify educational objectives that resist obvious measurement. An overview is presented of studies using the LR and problems and solutions found in the literature and identified in a survey of 16 Dutch LR users. (SLD)

A Swedish empathy test for professional helpers, the Affect Reading Scale, was developed and tested on several occasions with 1000 caregivers in different sectors. Results support the conceptual validity of the scale and demonstrate that it is responsive to educational experiences that influence empathy. (SLD)

The historical roots of current educational assessment practices are traced, exploring assessment in the generic sense rather than as educational measurement. Our culture of assessment developed long ago, predating the history of educational measurement. Current inefficiencies in education and faults in school life may have grown with this…

The last decade has seen an enormous increase in interest in and use of educational indicators. This paper focuses on K-12 student outcome indicators and measures of how well students have learned what is expected of them--the raison d'etre of schooling. It provides a Canadian perspective on student outcome indicators and has three major purposes:…

A study investigated the utility of a measure for assessing the writing apprehension of Japanese students of English as a second language. The Daly-Miller questionnaire, designed to measure writing apprehension, was translated into Japanese and administered to 687 first- and second-year students of English at a Japanese junior college. Results…