We examined state evaluation anxiety, trait evaluation anxiety, and neuroticism in relation to New Zealand first-year university students' (n = 234) task performance on either a test or essay assessment. For both assessment types, the underlying components of state evaluation anxiety (cognitive worry, emotionality, and distraction) reflect…

Pediatric developmental assessments from the early 1900s are different from those used more often today. Certain present-day pediatric expectations of fine motor skills, specifically those of pre-writing strokes, appear more advanced when compared to those of the past. In the mid-20th century, child developmentalists described the sequences in…

Sports performance testing is one of the most common and important measures used in sport science. Performance testing protocols must have high reliability to ensure any changes are not due to measurement error or inter-individual differences. High validity is also important to ensure test performance reflects true performance. Time-trial…

Occupational performance assessments of children are essential for guiding occupational therapy intervention and for measuring the effectiveness of occupational therapy services for children. A review of relevant research and of occupational performance assessments designed for children was conducted to determine and describe how the occupational…

Context: Validity arguments can be used to provide evidence that instructors are drawing accurate conclusions from the results of students' clinical performance assessments (PAs). Little research has been conducted in athletic training education to determine if the evidence supports the use of current PAs. Measurement theories designed to…

To validate an interpretation or use of test scores is to evaluate the plausibility of the claims based on the scores. An argument-based approach to validation suggests that the claims based on the test scores be outlined as an argument that specifies the inferences and supporting assumptions needed to get from test responses to score-based…

Aim: Gross motor performance appears to be impaired in children with psychiatric disorders but little is known about which skill domains are affected in each disorder, nor about possible accompanying deficits in physical fitness. The present study has sought to provide information about these issues in children with emotional, behavioural, and…

Many people with intellectual disabilities also have physical difficulties which prevent them from using standard computer control devices. Custom made alternative devices for those with special needs can be expensive and the low unit turnover makes the prospect unattractive to potential manufacturers. One solution is to explore the potential of…

The present study examined the long-term usefulness of estimated parameters used to adjust the scores from a performance assessment to account for differences in rater stringency. Ratings from four components of the USMLE[R] Step 2 Clinical Skills Examination data were analyzed. A generalizability-theory framework was used to examine the extent to…

The purpose of this study was to develop and calibrate an assessment system, or bank, using the latest measurement theories and methods to promote valid and reliable student assessment in physical education. Using an anchor-test equating design, a total of 30 items or assessments were administered to 5,021 (2,568 boys and 2,453 girls) students in…

The main challenge for theories of multitasking is to predict when and how tasks interfere. Here, we focus on interference related to the problem state, a directly accessible intermediate representation of the current state of a task. On the basis of Salvucci and Taatgen's (2008) threaded cognition theory, we predict interference if 2 or more…

Voluntary action can be studied by giving participants free choice over which task to perform in response to each presented stimulus. In such experiments, performance costs are observed when participants choose to switch tasks from the previous trial. It has been proposed that these costs primarily index the time-consuming operation of top-down…

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) is a recent revision of the well-known Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). The MABC-2 is designed to identify and describe impairments in motor performance of children and adolescents 3 through 16 years of age. The Performance Test and the Checklist have been…

Standards and accountability have become a central issue of educational reform in many countries. Professional standards for teachers and principals have been developed, and benchmarking and comparison are at the heart of the new performance assessment. "Designer leadership" has become a defining theme for leadership in the appearance of regimes…

The current study investigated the perception of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and tool-based grasping possibilities. In Experiment 1, participants judged whether they would grasp planks of wood-presented in ascending, descending, and random orders of length-using one hand (1H), two hands (2H), or with a tool that extended their reach (TH). In…