This study investigated the chemistry laboratory classroom environment, teacher-student interactions and student attitudes towards chemistry among 497 gifted and non-gifted secondary-school students in Singapore. The data were collected using the 35-item Chemistry Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI), the 48-item Questionnaire on Teacher…

This study examined the relevance of the Goal Instability Scale-Portuguese Adaptation (GIS-P) on the vocational identity and career certainty of 375 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade Portuguese high schoolers. After translating the GIS-P, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factorial unidimensionality and reliability of the construct.…

Objective: To describe the development and validation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), a 17-item instrument designed to measure intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms associated with indirect exposure to traumatic events via one's professional relationships with traumatized clients. Method: A sample of 287 licensed social…

Objective/Method: The use of brief, reliable, valid, and practical measures of substance use is critical for conducting individual assessments and program evaluation for integrated mental health-substance abuse services for persons with serious mental illness. This investigation examines the internal consistency reliability, concurrent validity,…

The present study provides information on the reliability and validity of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale (TAPS), a multidimensional 36-item Likert-type scale that measures cultural competence among transracial adoptive (TRA) parents. The TAPS was theoretically developed and refined through feedback from experts in TRA adoption. A…

The aim of this study was to develop a means of tracking the reading performance of low-progress readers on a weekly basis, so as to inform instructional decision-making. A representative sample of 261 primary school children from Years 1 to 5 were tested on 21 different text passages taken from a developing passage reading test, the Wheldall…

In this article, the authors report the psychometric properties of a parent-completed rating scale based on the criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision" ("DSM-IV-TR"). Mothers of 294 boys and 48 girls with…

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a new measure, the Abuse-Related Beliefs Questionnaire (ARBQ), designed to assess abuse-related beliefs among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Study 1 examined the structure of the scale, and Study 2 evaluated its reliability and validity. Method: One hundred and seventy female…

Purpose: To scale language milestones in a group of 527 children to provide an instrument for screening language development. Procedure: The questionnaire regarding these milestones was completed by parental report. It was evaluated whether the scaled milestones satisfied the assumptions of the Mokken item response model. Results: The scalability…

The psychometric properties of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders Rating scale (Eaves, 2003) and the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (Gilliam, 1995) were investigated in this study. One hundred thirty-four individuals with autism, other pervasive developmental disorders, or conditions frequently confused with autism participated in the study. The…

Impairments pose a certain degree of difficulty to disabled people, however the impact of the environment is the major cause of disability. Despite the fact that the disabling effect of environmental factors is acknowledged, little research has been done to explore the impact of the environment on varying degrees of disability and different…

It is argued that while task-centered assessment of second language learning has the strong support of teachers and learners, focuses on language as a tool rather than as an end in itself, and fosters learning, there remain some problems with its use. Further work must be done to develop assessment criteria that reflect current theories of…

Many states currently offer bilingual certification or endorsement, encouraging both practicing teachers and prospective teachers to complete their requirements necessary to add this certification on to their regular teaching license. Although these requirements routinely include courses in bilingual education, the "second" language…

Some issues involved in the measurement of student motivation and learning strategies are explored, focusing on a self-report instrument, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The MSLQ, designed to assess the motivational orientation and learning strategy use of college students and based on a social-cognitive view, has been…

Preliminary research on virtual reality (VR) suggests that this technology could be a powerful tool for education based on its immersive and dynamic attributes. The Virtual Reality Roving Vehicles (VRRV) Project at the University of Washington is exploring these possibilities by taking VR equipment into elementary and secondary schools for…