Two studies investigated the effects of three instructional methods on lower and higher cognitive processes of sixth- and ninth-grade students. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)

Reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) and compares the use and misuse of the test as revealed through published surveys. Finds problems in the use of the NDRT to diagnose the specific reading needs and deficiencies of low-achieving students and to measure individual growth. (CBC)

Two approaches are used to assess the one-month stability of depression affect in college students: (1) a high retest correlation is demonstrated for a latent depressive affect construct using self-reports from the previous month; and (2) predictive validity of depressive categorization is examined using logistic regression techniques. (Author/LMO)

Finds the test useful but criticizes its lack of generalizability of norms and the absence of reliability, validity, or normative information for the Spanish version. (FL)

Using the Classroom Behavior Inventory, teachers rated the behaviors of 63 school-identified, learning-disabled first and second graders. Hierarchical cluster analysis techniques identified seven distinct behavioral subtypes. Internal validation techniques indicated that the subtypes were replicable and had profile patterns different from a sample…

Evaluates a 10-item scale of perceived occupational opportunity, using data covering career decision making and labor entry, adolescence to young adulthood (N=630). The scale's external validity is explored using a structural equation model linking perceived opportunity to social origins, adolescent career plans, and early socioeconomic…

Reports on the first phases of an American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages project to develop a computerized adaptive test of reading proficiency. The theoretical multidimensionality of the construct is clarified, and its implications for test development, item calibration, and validation procedures are discussed. (Author/SED)

The researchers devised a system for classifying earliest school recollections (ESRs). To determine the validity of this system, judges classified 100 third- and fourth-grade public school students according to their earliest school recollections. A statistically significant agreement was found between judges' and teachers' classifications of…

This study sought to describe the personality characteristics of self-directed continuing learners, develop an instrument to identify such learners, and conduct empirical investigations to validate the instrument. Results suggest the instrument is a valid tool for identifying self-directed continuing learners when used in its entirety. (Author/CT)

Used classical conditioning theory of learning to predict attitudes of junior high students toward spending for designer jeans. Found that students were likely to say that in comparison to the nondesigner jeans, they would spend more for the designer jeans, select them more often as gifts, and purchase them more often for themselves. (Author/ABB)

Describes a study which examined the reliability, validity, and scalability of a new technique for constructing, administering, and scoring dictation tests to measure second language proficiency. Findings indicate that such tests can be constructed easily by dividing a coherent text into segments of increasing length. (SED)

The purpose of this research was to recommend an item bias procedure when the number of minority examinees is too small to use preferred three-parameter item response theory (IRT) methods. The chi-square, Angoff delta-plot, and pseudo-IRT indices were compared with both real and simulated data. (Author/DWH)

Reports findings of a study that examined the extent to which the variability observed in reading levels of common junior high textbooks was also present in four popular high school social studies texts. (FL)

While controlling for overall intellectual level, this study assessed the interpersonal problem-solving skills of 150 families via written tests and behavioral performances. Interrelationships between written and behavioral interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills were examined, as were the relationships of each problem-solving measure to…

Tested the correspondence of interests of Spanish-speaking clients to Holland's theory using the English and Spanish versions of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory administered to 94 bilingual Hispanic high school students. Results suggested that the two forms of the inventory correlated .79, and supported Holland's (1973) structure of…