In 2017, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funded Mathematica to conduct the Infant and Toddler Teacher and Caregiver Competencies (ITTCC) project. The project aims to examine existing efforts across states, institutions of higher education, professional organizations, and…

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, a standardized protocol for observation of social and communicative behavior associated with autism, is described. Data on interrater reliability as well as test-retest reliability and discriminant validity are provided. (Author/DB)

The paper describes the "Early Social Communication Scales" designed to assess social and communication skills typically acquired in the first 30 months of life. Stressed is the role of the tester as an interactive partner for the infant. Reliability data suggesting reliability over time with the same partner are presented. (Author/DB)

The article examines issues related to establishing a rationale for the use of early childhood rating scales and to selecting a rating scale using such criteria as user needs, user friendliness, scale format, score interpretation, reliability, and validity. Methods of establishing the validity of a rating scale are suggested. (Author/DB)

Six behavior rating scales used with children with problematic behaviors were reviewed for psychometric soundness of reliability and validity. They are: Behavior Dimensions Rating Scale; Behavior Evaluation Scale; Child Behavior Checklist, Teacher Report Form; Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale; Revised Behavior Problem Checklist;…

This manual describes development and use of the revised "Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students" (SRBCSS-R), a teacher judgment instrument appropriate for use as one measure in the identification of gifted students. Part 1 explains the judgmental and empirical procedures used to revise the items on the original…

A comprehensive assessment of children with Attention Deficit Disorder should include use of teacher rating scales. Rater biases, positive and negative halo effects, practice effects, and other problems are outweighed by the ease of use, low cost, and reasonable reliability and validity of teacher rating scales. (Author/DB)

Because touching is an important and often studied construct, and there is need for a valid self-report measure of touching behavior, a measure of touching behaviors was developed. Touching behaviors to be reported were: brief touch on the arm or shoulder, handshake, hug, hand holding, kiss on the cheek, and kiss on the lips. Persons identified as…

This study evaluated the Five P's (Parent/Professional Preschool Performance Profile) observational scale through which preschool teachers and parents evaluate the behavior of disabled or nondisabled children in natural settings while the children interact with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. Developmental skills and interfering…

Evaluation of a checklist by teachers to rate 60 secondary level learning-disabled and nondisabled students for mainstream competencies found no overall mean group differences and no inter-rater reliability, though ratings on work habits did predict course grades for all three groups (fully mainstreamed, partially mainstreamed, and nondisabled).…

The Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Children's Health Evaluation System (BEACHES) codes direct observations of children's dietary and physical activity behaviors and associated environmental events, including physical location, antecedents, and consequences. The system's reliability and validity was assessed in a study of 42 children (ages…

In order to collect the necessary information on various practices and devices used in school climate assessment, 22 of the 39 school improvement projects mentioned in the Miles and Kaufman directory of effective schools programs were selected for a survey. A questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. Each program was asked for copies of…

This manual describes the theory behind the Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ) used in Australia and defines what the subscale and scale scores mean. The LPQ is a 36-item self-report questionnaire that yields scores on three basic motives for learning and three learning strategies, and on the approaches to learning that are formed by these…

This study, involving five experienced and trained speech language pathologists, categorized the elicited imitations of five profoundly and five severely prelingually hearing-impaired subjects using the Phonetic Level Evaluation. Failure to obtain acceptably high levels of reliability suggests that this measure may not yet be an accurate and…

The School Subjects Attitude Scales is an instrument for measuring students' attitudes toward school subjects for grades 5-12. Twenty-four bipolar word pairs are used with evaluation, usefulness, and difficulty scales. The word pairs were selected on the basis of discussions and analysis of trial forms. Results can be used in program evaluation…