This study utilized generalizability theory to assess the context where the National Survey of Student Engagement's (NSSE) summary measures, the Engagement Indicators, produce dependable group-level means. The dependability of NSSE group means is an important topic for the higher education assessment community given its wide utilization and usage…

Student agency, or the ability to manage one's learning, can have significant effects on academic achievement as students take an active role in seeking and internalizing new knowledge. Students who believe that knowledge can grow over time perform better on IQ tests than students who believe intelligence is invariable (Cury, Elliot, Da Fonseca,…

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive…

Technology can change higher education by empowering students to make an impact on the world as undergraduates. Done systematically, this would allow institutions to close the credibility gap with an increasingly dubious public. Authentic student achievements that are addressed to a "real world" audience can lead to richly detailed…

This dissertation is developed around two studies created with the goal of describing and quantifying current educators' knowledge and perceptions of reading assessment and subsequent data-based instructional decision making. Unique to the field, a critical component of this study is an emphasis on educators' development of "data…

In this article, the authors present a German Sense of Community (SOC) Scale for use in military settings. The scale is based on the translation and field-testing of an existing U.S.-based measure of neighborhood SOC (Peterson, Speer, & McMillan, 2008). The methodological intricacies underlying cross-cultural scale development are highlighted, as…

Consumers in two studies (n=374 and 500) were surveyed regarding their nutrition knowledge and the information on food labels. Validity of the survey instrument was supported by comparing results from professional nutritionists and dietitian students. Knowledge level was an important factor in consumer comprehension of and attitudes toward label…

This article presents the experience of an area vocational school to illustrate how counselors, with the help of a computer, can obtain locally validated test information useful in vocational counseling. (Author)

Each of the many methods or approaches to assessing student learning is based on a clear understanding of validity, reliability, course objectives, the advantages and disadvantages of different evaluation formats, and the ways assessment data will be used to improve instruction. (Author/MSE)

A quality-of-life index proposed as an outcome and criterion measure for goodness-of-fit between persons and their environments was tested on data from 685 Nebraska community-based mental retardation programs. Administrative and programmatic uses of the information are discussed. (Author/MSE)

Describes the creation and objectives of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and reviews the findings of an evaluation of the NAEP, published in "Measuring the Quality of Education," by Wirtz and Lapointe. Focuses on the role that the NAEP can play in establishing uniform, national educational standards. (GC)

The relationship between an instrument's quality and the frequency of its use in federally funded educational research in 1975 was examined. Highly rated tests were found to be used more frequently, especially achievement, vocational, and intelligence tests. Highly rated reading and personality tests, however, were not used more often. (Author/MV)

This special issue of "Catalyst", entitled Testing Programs in Schools: What's New?, was published jointly by the Nebraska Council of School Administrators and the Nebraska Association for Supervision and Curriculum. The articles emphasize desirability of designing testing programs to meet the information needs of educators and the…

The meaning of standardized achievement testing to 50 third-grade teachers was investigated through a construct validation procedure using questionnaires and structured open-ended interviews. Subjects were from 18 schools performing distinctly above or below prediction on the Delaware Educational Assessment Program Longitudinal Study.…

News media reports about Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and trends have drawn or suggested conclusions about the quality of schools, teachers, and colleges that are neither supported by evidence from the test itself nor consistent with its nature and purpose. (MSE)