Suggests that assessment must be built into the curriculum and focused upon the kinds of skills students need. Considers much educational testing in writing to be reductionist, unrealistic, and detrimental to learning. Critiques writing assessment's trust and reliance on a single or small sample of student work collected and scored outside of a…

The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) represent a breakthrough in measuring early language production. Nevertheless, the CDIs' word comprehension component may not be a valid measure, because parents report too high a word comprehension ability for their children. Suggests that administering the CDIs to parents in an interview…

Describes several ways to view senior exhibits at an urban high school employing the Coalition of Essential Schools'"graduation by exhibition" assessment method. The coalition advocates a pedagogy combining a personalized, caring environment with a focus on student production. Judges must balance warm regard with cool, critical appraisal…

This study found that the restructured National Board Dental Examination Part II is a reliable test assessing a full range of cognitive behaviors, and a unidimensional test of comprehensive general dentistry, suggesting better testing of knowledge and problem-solving skills than on the traditional examination. Performance on the pilot and…

The Test of Knowledge about Mental Retardation was developed to measure attitudes, not knowledge. It consists of 20 error-choice items requiring respondents to select one of four incorrect alternatives. An additional 20 questions address general knowledge of mental retardation. Psychometric analysis indicates satisfactory item characteristics,…

Explored validity and reliability of Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) using data from 104 graduate nursing students. Findings support construct validity and reliability of ACCI. Concluded that, although the ACCI seemed to be psychometrically sound, the use of other measures in conjunction with it would be recommended practice in assessing…

A new 22-item measure of an individual's tolerance for ambiguity, the Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance (MSTAT-I), is described. The measure addresses characteristics of ambiguous stimuli and reactions to perceived ambiguity. Evidence from 148 undergraduates for reliability and convergent and discriminant validity is presented in support…

The Competitiveness Questionnaire (CQ) was constructed to measure two competitiveness perspectives, Interpersonal Competitiveness and Goal Competitiveness. Initial version of CQ was administered to 94 college students; revised version was administered to 195 students. Findings provide some evidence for construct of Goal Competitiveness and for its…

Reports on development and psychometric properties of Feminist Family Therapy Scale (FFTS), a 17-item instrument intended to reflect degree to which family therapists conceptualize process of family therapy from feminist-informed perspective. Found that the instrument discriminated between self-identified feminists and nonfeminists, women and men,…

Presents an instrument for assessing an individual student's decoding abilities by having a teacher analyze a student's attempts to pronounce a fictitious list of children's first and last names. Argues that the instrument is valid and reliable. (MG)

Considers problems with use of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Presents brief history of MBTI and brief theory of type. Examines MBTI's statistical structure, reliability, and validity. Concludes that MBTI does not conform to many basic standards expected of psychological tests. (NB)

Examination of the role of psychometrics in the development of multiple-choice tests and performance-based assessments and consideration of validity and reliability issues leads to this conclusion: Choice of assessments for instruction or large-scale accountability depends on which is more appropriate for the particular purposes. Taxonomic…

Reports on the conceptual development and empirical use of the Family Intrusiveness Scale (FIS), an instrument designed to reflect levels of intrusiveness in the family system. Development of the instrument is explained, its use and evidence of its reliability are explored, and its practicality and effectiveness are considered. (MKA)

A study of 233 individuals with severe mental retardation examined the validity of the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II) through correlation with the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC). DASH-II as a whole was found to have a high degree of convergent validity with the ABC total score. (CR)

The alternate-forms reliability of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) (A. Fisher, 1997), where alternate forms means different pairs of AMPS tasks, was studied with 91 people who had performed four AMPS tasks. Results support use of the AMPS activities of daily-living motor and process scales. (SLD)