Paul E. Newton's "Clarifying the Consensus Definition of Validity" addresses the single most important, yet stubbornly protean, value in educational and psychological assessment. "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in…

This article presents an interview with James C. Kaufman, an associate professor of psychology at the California State University at San Bernardino, where he directs the Learning Research Institute. Kaufman received his PhD in cognitive psychology from Yale University in 2001. Dr. Kaufman's research broadly focuses on nurturing and encouraging…

Lilienfeld, Garb, and Wood (2011) commented on our recently published meta-analysis (Poston & Hanson, 2010). In their thorough, fine-grained critique, they questioned the study's inclusion criteria, sampling, and results, suggesting the latter are "overstated" (p. 1048). Additionally, they discussed the Barnum effect, suggesting that…

Recent empirical research on outdoor education programs describes adjustment symptoms that instructors suffer from after the programs have come to an end. Post-course effects are also documented for students, but those are normally scientifically coded in measured changes in "skills" or "learning effects." In this paper, the…

In this issue, Professor Perry Zirkel argues that the points presented in the Dixon, Eusebio, Turton, Wright, and Hale treatise of the Forest Grove School District v. T.A. Supreme Court case confuses "legal requirements with professional norms." Although we appreciate Zirkel's acknowledgment that our position reflects the professional…

The 2009 "Forest Grove School District v. T.A." United States Supreme Court case could have significant implications for school psychology practice. The Court ruled that the parents of a student with a disability were entitled to private school tuition reimbursement even though T.A. had not been identified with a disability or previously…

In a recent article in this journal, Poston and Hanson (2010) reported a meta-analysis of 17 studies on the use of psychological assessment as a therapeutic intervention (PATI) and concluded that "psychological assessment procedures--when combined with personalized, collaborative, and highly involving test feedback--have positive, clinically…

The reactions by Ridley and Shaw-Ridley (EJ832451) and Lichtenberg (EJ832452) to the authors' meta-analysis on the effects of experience on judgment accuracy add positively to what is hoped will become an ever more focused discourse on this most basic question: How can mental health clinical decision making be improved? In this rejoinder, the…

In their paper "Unique Characteristics of Diagnostic Classification Models: A Comprehensive Review of the Current State-of-the-Art," Andre Rupp and Jonathan Templin (2008) provide a comparative analysis of selected psychometric models useful for the analysis of multidimensional data for purposes of diagnostic score reporting. Recent assessment…

However intuitively appealing the notion is that therapists learn from clinical experience (presumably both successes and failures), whether clinical judgment actually is enhanced by experience remains a matter on which there continues to be disagreement. The author discusses the meta-analysis of P.M. Spengler et al. that demonstrates a supportive…

Clinical judgment is foundational to psychological practice. Accurate judgment forms the basis for establishing reasonable goals and selecting appropriate treatments, which in turn are essential in achieving positive therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, Spengler and colleagues' meta-analytic finding--clinical judgment accuracy improves marginally with…

Griffiths, Christian, and Kalish (this issue) present an iterative-learning paradigm applying a Bayesian model to understand inductive biases in categorization. The authors argue that the paradigm is useful as an exploratory tool to understand inductive biases in situations where little is known about the task. It is argued that a theory developed…

This article addresses a 2006 article by Hojnoski, Morrison, Brown, and Matthews on the use of performance-based measurement among school-based practitioners. Their results suggest that many of their survey respondents favor the use of this form of measurement. This line of research is important and addresses an important issue in current clinical…

The expansion of computer technology has created many possiblities for computer applications in the area of psychological testing and assessment. The ways that computers can be used in psychometric assessment, the benefits of such use, and problems that may be encountered with these uses are discussed. (Author/BL)

Notes that numerous dysfunctions have roots in interpersonal problems rather than in individual, intrapsychic distress. Discusses movement toward developing diagnostic system that depicts/classifies relational disorders, and efforts of proponents to include relational disorders in future versions of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental…