Estimates confluence model of intellectual development for a within-family sample of 321 children from 101 transracial adoptive families. Mental ages of children and their parents and birth or adoption intervals were used in a nonlinear least-squares estimation procedure to obtain children's predicted mental ages. Results suggest efficiency of the…

Explains that from a prediction standpoint the confluence model is not very efficient. Very modest increments in accuracy are associated with family configuration variables once chronological age is covaried. Suggests that the major postulates of the theory be tested directly, within individuals and with longitudinal data. (Author/AS)

Discussion of checklists and their variations--job aids, algorithms, heuristics, and decision tables--covers what they are, how they are generated, and some implications of checklisting for instruction, evaluation, and learning. Examples of various kinds of checklists and 11 references are provided. (MBR)

Examined managers' perceptions of subordinates' performance, causes (attributions) of subordinates' performance, and the leader behaviors they employed toward subordinates from the standpoint of cross-situational consistency versus cross-situational specificity. Empirical results for 377 Navy managers provided strong support for cross-situational…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether ninth-grade pupils making appropriate vocational choices attained higher scores on measures of vocational maturity than pupils making inappropriate vocational choices. Analyses of the results showed that the group making appropriate vocational choices attained significantly higher scores than the…

The goal of this primer is to help policymakers and other interested individuals answer three big questions: (1) What does the research say? (2) Is the research trustworthy? (3) How can the research be used to guide policy? Answering these questions will help policymakers: (1) make evidenced-based decisions about education policies; (2) gain a…

In most developed countries, the pursuit of reliable and valid means of assessing people's learning generates high volumes of published discourse and, not infrequently, dissent; the documentation on the various assessment policies, practices and theories could conceivably fill whole libraries. Some of the discourse and much of the dissent relate…

The Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) is a multiple-choice test that has been used to evaluate physics instruction. However, the validity and reliability estimates have not been determined in a way a social scientist would expect. Few psychometric data were used to estimate the validity and reliability of the FMCE instrument. This…

A pilot version of a School Capacity Assessment (SCA) was developed in 2002 to assess the degree to which schools possess the potential to become high performing learning communities. The SCA was part of AELs School Capacity Development project. The pilot version of the SCA was intended to be administered to K-12 professional staff to assist them…

This study investigated the validity of the current reliability estimation procedure for the Test of Spoken English (TSE), a tape-mediated semi-performance test of 12 speaking tasks, from the perspective of generalizability theory and examined the feasibility of shortening the test without compromising the psychometric quality of the test. Data…

The research literature on student evaluation of teaching (SET) is filled with criticisms of the process, its applications, and the student feedback questionnaire it uses. SETs are still used, however, because there has seemed to be no economical, valid, and reliable alternative. This paper reports on an alternative alignment process for…

A single-administration classification reliability index is described that estimates the probability of consistently classifying examinees to mastery or nonmastery states as if those examinees had been tested with two alternate forms. The procedure is applicable to any test used for classification purposes, subdividing that test into two…

To assure the fair and honest grading of student achievement, validity and reliability are key to writing test items. Clarity in writing each item is essential. Multiple procedures of assessing the achievement of university students should be implemented, and instructors and professors should be held accountable for the fair and honest grading of…

The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) was created by the Evaluation Group of the Arizona Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (ACEPT) as an observational instrument designed to measure "reformed" teaching. This document is a guide to its use. The theoretical concepts that guided the development of the…

This paper identifies World Wide Web site characteristics and attributes and groups them in a hierarchy. The primary goal is to classify the elements that might be part of a quantitative evaluation and comparison process. In order to effectively select quality characteristics, different users' needs and behaviors are considered. Following an…