A review of studies on effective principals reveals that a number of methodological problems have prevented the accumulation of findings adequate to producing well developed models of instructional leadership and its effects on school outcomes. Problems of measurement and research design in the existing literature are reviewed and suggestions for…

A study examined the nature of the questions contained in two major standardized reading comprehension tests in terms of their centrality to the text. It was hypothesized that the use of a discrimination index for item selection would tend to favor relatively trivial questions. Half the reading selections from the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test…

This booklet is intended to help school personnel, parents, students, and members of the community understand concepts and research relating to achievement testing in public schools. The paper's sections include: (1) test use with direct effects on students (test of certification, selection, and placement); (2) test use with indirect effects on…

The present study: (1) describes the development and make-up of a comprehensive semantic differential measure of school related attitudes for young children; (2) presents evidence for the reliability and the discriminant and convergent validities of the measure; and (3) discusses issues pertaining to the measurement of school-related attitudes in…

A study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the Intimate Coding System (INCS)--an instrument designed to code verbal conversation in intimate relationships. Subjects, 34 married couples, completed Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale, which elicited information about relational adjustment and satisfaction in intimate couples in…

Forty-one college students participated in a study designed to gather validity and reliability information on a procedure used to measure communication competence, the Communication Competency Assessment Instrument (CCAI). The study, in confirming operationalization validity, found that self-report measures correlated only slightly with…

This paper analyzes research findings about the role of values and beliefs in aptitude testing. Indications are found that the ongoing controversy over the lack of ethnic, racial, and sex fairness in aptitude testing is rooted in the tests themselves. Test designers, it is argued, are influenced by their socioeconomic position (they are usually…

A new self-report measure of impulsivity was developed to provide group administration and economy of scoring. An initial set of 26 items was constructed to tap various aspects of impulsivity, or the tendency to respond quickly without thinking. The items were administered to 346 male undergraduate students, primarily freshmen and sophomores. Item…

A rating scale to measure communication attitudes that distinguish stutterers from nonstutterers was tested for validity and reliability and used to determine when stutterers in speech therapy changed their attitudes to normal. (MYS)

The author responding to criticism of an earlier article attempts to clarify his previous remarks on the reliability and validity of measures of body image in mentally handicapped persons. (LC)

Both criterion-referenced testing and behavioral assessment share the basic assumption that test behavior is a sample rather than a sign. In addition, both types of assessment focus on response capabilities and performance in specified content domains. Although content validity has been traditionally recognized as essential to criterion-referenced…

The reliability and validity of the Modified Component Disability Checklist were examined with five secondary learning disabled (LD) teachers, 21 low achieving students, and 21 LD students in grades 7, 8, and 9. During Phase I, teachers matched the component disability to the target behavior; and in Phase II teachers were told to judge each target…