This article provides a framework for portfolio assessment in which common benchmarks and rubrics provide explicit and shared criteria for judging both the collection of work in the portfolio and individual performance samples. Also addressed are efforts to achieve validity and reliability in teacher, student, and parent judgments while…

Examines users' requirements from online vendors, both from the point of view of an inexperienced user and an experienced information specialist. Criteria that users look for are discussed, including available information, price structure, a trial period, service and user support, training, document delivery, consistency, quality, screen design,…

Examines the overlap of article coverage and the consistency of indexing between the "Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals" and the "Architectural Periodicals Index." The historical backgrounds of the two indexes are described, possibilities for collaboration between them are considered, and implications for users are…

Describes a method for coding themes directly from audiotapes without transcription and issues and methods by which reliability can be established. A study of concerns of professionals being trained on 11 school-based support teams coded by 2 raters and based on 19 hours of audiotaped interviews illustrates the method. (SLD)

Sufficient conditions are derived for the consistency and asymptotic normality of the least squares estimator of a trilinear decomposition model for multiway data analysis. The limiting covariance matrix is computed. (Author/SLD)

Effects of different weighting schemes on selecting the optimal number of observations in multivariate-multifacet generalizability designs are studied when cost constraints are imposed. Comparison of four schemes through simulation indicates that all four produce similar optimal values and that reliability should be similar. (SLD)

Describes Probability of Adoption of Change (PAC) model, theoretical paradigm for explaining likelihood of successful adoption of planned change initiatives in student affairs. Reports on PAC construct reliability from survey of 62 Chief Student Affairs Officers. Discusses two refinements to the model: merger of leadership and top level support…

Presents methodology designed to evaluate validity of retrospective self-report inventories. Applied technique to college student, twin, and sibling data to demonstrate reliability and validity of retrospective self-report questionnaire on timing of pubertal onset. Support provided by four main findings is discussed. (Author/NB)

Longitudinal studies of personality traits and intelligence have used an exponential function to relate magnitudes of correlations between occasions to the time interval. This exponential function is shown to be equivalent to a quasisimplex model of a stationary process with constant reliability. (SLD)

Examined the psychometric properties of an assessment tool for measuring attitudes toward physician/nurse collaboration. Survey results from 208 medical students and 86 nursing students support the construct validity and reliability of the scale, which can be used to evaluate programs designed to foster physician/nurse collaboration. (SLD)

Developed a scale for measuring an individual's tendency to see himself or herself as an inner-directed agent or as a pawn, an outer-directed creature and tested the scale with 49 Norwegian college students. Reliability and validity results are promising. (SLD)

The Tell-Me-a-Story (TEMAS) is analyzed, reviewed, and critiqued with regard to theoretical underpinnings and rationale for development, administration, scoring, psychometric properties, and research to date. TEMAS has evidence of reliability and validity, and may achieve more accurate assessment of Black and Hispanic children. Limitations of the…

Presents results from two computer-based knowledge-mapping studies developed by the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST): in one, middle and high school students constructed group maps while collaborating over a network, and in the second, students constructed individual maps while searching the Web.…

Used generalizability theory to investigate the impact of the number of raters and the type of decision (relative versus absolute) on the reliability of writing scores. Results from 251 middle school students and 20 intermediate grade students show that reliability coefficients decline as the number of raters declines and when absolute decisions…

Questions whether parental reports of post treatment substance use and other treatment outcomes-related behaviors reliably reflect self-reports of adolescents; and if initially reliable, if the parental reports continue to reliably reflect adolescents' self-reports over time. Indicates that parents can give reliable proxy information regarding…