This article describes a study, from a Canadian technical institute's upgrading mathematics course, where students played a role in developing the final closed-book exam that they sat. The study involved a process where students developed practice exams and solutions keys, students sat each other's practice exams, students evaluated classmates'…

A self-report, paper-and-pencil version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Depression Inventory, was developed and tested with 140 depressed adults, 99 adults with anxiety disorders, and 118 nonreferred adults. Overall, data support the reliability and validity of the new measure. (SLD)

Interviews are the major tools of academic counseling at Northwestern State University (NSU) in Natchitoches, Louisiana. To enhance the specific application forms and the meaningful qualities of interviews, a counseling Content-Guide-Checklist has been constructed from NSU fall 1987 academic counseling interview reports and from a review of the…

Developed Question Classification Scale (QCS) to permit more discrimination among types of questions used in marriage and family therapy. Database for development consisted of 503 family therapy questions drawn from tapes of family therapy experts and trainees. Each therapist-initiated question was coded in four ways, yielding a simple,…

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has been engaged in oral language proficiency testing theory and practice for more than 20 years. The FSI test has been consistent during this time in format, evaluation criteria, performance standards, and level definitions. Current concerns about the degree of standardization of the format and the strength of…

The Language Proficiency Interview's structure, administration, and rating scale are outlined by an officer of the organization that designed it (Educational Testing Service), and some common mistakes made in its administration are listed. The need for training in the test's administration is emphasized. Its application in the corporate situation…

Inclusion of oral exams as a regular part of the school-based testing program has the advantages of providing motivation to learn oral skills, oral testing experience, additional opportunities for students to perform well, and improved relationships with students. However, logistical problems can be substantial. Adequate time for and efficient…

Attachment theory asserts that human beings are innately programmed to seek and form attachments with others. The assumption that the quality of early attachment relationships will be functionally related to subsequent attachment styles and competencies provides the theoretical basis for extending the theory of attachment to the study of adult…

Previous studies of washback (the influence of a test on teaching and learning) have provided insights into the complexity of educational systems and test use, especially in relation to the role of the teacher, but have given insufficient attention to the relationship between observed practices and test design features. In this article a washback…

The evaluation instruments used in the Tennessee Career Ladder program are described, and their evolution over the first three years of program implementation is traced. The instruments are designed to measure teacher performance and to determine outstanding teachers. They include: the Career Ladder Test of Professional Skills (a multiple-choice…

This paper examines interviews with principals and surveys of 19 teachers in 5 schools about their use of portfolio assessment. Six themes are identified that reveal the impact of portfolio assessment. Teachers reported that using portfolios broadened the types of evidence they considered in assessing students. The transition to portfolio…

The present study, which was drawn from a larger project in which teachers developed and implemented performance assessments in their classrooms, investigates children's perceptions of what reading and mathematics are and how they understand their teachers' knowledge of them as readers and mathematicians. Two students from each of 13 third-grade…

A project to develop and validate a tape-based alternative to the interview-based speaking proficiency test is described. The objective was to produce an economically more viable test for less commonly taught languages, closely modeled on and readily interpretable in terms of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Interagency…

Two newly developed instruments being used in a number of studies examining the influences of intrafamily and extrafamily resources and supports on parent, family, and child functioning are described. The instruments are the Personal Assessment of Life Events (PALE) Scale, developed by C. M. Trivette and others (1988), and the Personal Assessment…

Analyses of 10 raters' reasoning during think-aloud interviews provided evidence to support a model of the fundamental processes involved in rating standards-based, nonprescriptive portfolios. This process model provides a framework within which to conceptualize sound-rater reasoning and to identify reasoning that distorts the meaning of scores.…