The long-term goal of the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) and other federal and state early intervention and early childhood education initiatives is improved child and family outcomes. States play a critical role in supporting practitioners in the use of evidence-based practices to improve child and family outcomes. When practitioners…

A measure of specialty indecision was administered to 567 medical students along with measures of vocational development and exploratory behavior. Initial evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Specialty Indecision Scale indicate that it is internally consistent, relates more to specialty choice than to career choice, and inversely…

Initially school personnel tended to select devices with technically adequate reliability and validity. As decision making continued, technically inadequate devices were selected more often. More emphasis on the importance of technically adequate assessment devices is needed in training school professionals. (Author)

Most training programs in education and psychology focus on classical test theory techniques for assessing score dependability. This paper discusses generalizability theory and explores its concepts using a small heuristic data set. Generalizability theory subsumes and extends classical test score theory. It is able to estimate the magnitude of…

Performance testing often entails the usage of expensive, time-consuming measures in the quest for determining the level of performance on some desired behavior. It is concluded that a generalizability theory approach to dealing with departures from reality in testing can aid in the establishment of empirically-based choices of measurement…

One approach to increasing our understanding of the rating process is to examine behavioral components of decision-making. Although observable rater behavior during appraisal is still removed from the actual contents of internal processing, these behavioral indices may provide important clues toward identifying determinants of rating success. To…

Native and nonnative speakers' approaches to evaluating student errors are compared, and it is argued that the teacher's assessment is likely to be influenced by such factors as his/her own language competence, familiarity with the learners, teaching priorities, and syllabus as well as frequency and degree of linguistic deviance. (MSE)

The estimation of the internal consistency of a newly constructed instrument using Cronbach's coefficient alpha is demonstrated. This study sought to determine the relationship, if any, between an individual's cognitive style and the preference for certain kinds of information used in making decisions. Cognitive style was determined with the Myers…

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The "Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education" provides higher…

In this paper, several models for the psychometric nature of criterion-referenced tests are presented and results derived with implications for test construction, reliability and validity measures, and educational decision making. Both dichotomous and continuous underlying abilities to perform are considered. Illustrative data fitting both cases…

The measurement information generated by CRT's is designed for use in instructional management systems where classifications of pupils for treatment are to be decided on the basis of minimal data consistent with predetermined limits for the errors of misclassification. The measures obtained are content specific estimates of proficiency useful for…

The nature and common uses of standardized achievement tests are described and placed in context in order to evaluate claims and criticisms that are commonly made. Tests are described as samples of behavior and hence subject to sampling errors. Much of the debate is dominated by emotion and prejudices. There is very little empirical evidence about…

A student's choice of an answer to a test question is a coarse measure of his knowledge about the subject matter of the question. Much finer measurement might be achieved if the student were asked to estimate, for each possible answer, the probability that it is the correct one. Such a procedure could yield two classes of benefits: (a) students…

Procedures for developing curriculum-based measurement (CBM) systems are presented as an approach to special education problem solving. CBM procedures are discussed within the context of a decision-making matrix, focusing on "what" and "how" to measure and how to use data. An example applies the method to reading-aloud…

A taxonomy of potential values conflicts in evaluations is presented. Basis is the distinction of types of conflict (aims vs. means conflicts; qualitative vs. quantitative conflicts). Six areas of values are discussed: the ethical, methodical, social and interactive, legal, economic, and personal values. The taxonomy of conflicts between these…