The Child Abuse and Trauma Scale, a self-report measure yielding a quantitative index of the frequency and extent of negative experiences in childhood and adolescence, was administered to 1,198 college students and 17 subjects with Multiple Personality Disorder. Results revealed the scale's strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and…

A 72-item survey, examining 6 types of instructional media, was administered to 85 preservice teachers to examine their beliefs with respect to instructional media. Factor analysis supported two strong constructs, technological beliefs and traditional beliefs. Whole and subscale reliabilities are also reported. (SLD)

Tested the effects on achievement of the High/Scope K-3 Curriculum. Found that the High/Scope Follow through children scored significantly better on achievement tests than they would have in regular classes without this program. However, the evaluation was incomplete in that such tests do not assess important High/Scope K-3 Curriculum goals. (WP)

Describes the development of the School-Age Temperament Inventory (SATI) as a parental report of children ages 8 through 11 years. A total of 435 mothers and 228 of their spouses served as parent informants in its assessment. Suggests that the SATI has adequate validity and reliability for use in research and structured parenting programs,…

Reports the development of a multidimensional instrument of stable coping styles that focuses on whether one's problem-focused coping efforts were facilitating or inhibiting progress toward problem resolution. Describes steps of scale construction, provides initial estimates of stability of factor structure and construct, concurrent, and…

The validity and reliability of a scale measuring attitudes toward foreign language were studied with 536 high school seniors. Results of principal components analysis identified five interpretable dimensions and suggested the need to improve the internal structure of the measure. (SLD)

Administration of the Willoughby Personality Schedule-R to 27 adult male Yugoslav stutterers revealed internal consistency of the assessment. Factor analysis revealed three separate dimensions: social isolation, social confidence, and social sensitivity. Results are consistent with the contention that hypersensitivity to interpersonal stress is…

Four mathematics test-item types that may perform differently when calculators are used were assessed using data from 160 high school students attending a summer enrichment program. The effects of testing with and without calculators on testing time, test reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination were also assessed. (TJH)

This article describes the Course Experience Questionnaire, a student evaluation of teaching performance. The article discusses the instrument's theoretical basis, statistical qualities, and national trials in Australian higher education. The questionnaire is seen to offer a reliable, verifiable, and useful means of evaluating teaching quality in…

This study, involving five experienced and trained speech language pathologists, categorized the elicited imitations of five profoundly and five severely prelingually hearing-impaired subjects using the Phonetic Level Evaluation. Failure to obtain acceptably high levels of reliability suggests that this measure may not yet be an accurate and…

Twenty students and 45 adults with visual impairments or blindness were administered a test of tactile concentration and short-term memory involving the reproduction of the order of finger stimulation using the Finger Knocking Box. Reliability and validity scores indicated encouraging results with use of the instrument. (JDD)

Analysis of spontaneous language samples of 10 children (ages 8-9) with specific language impairments found that interviews were a reliable, valid, and efficient assessment context, eliciting the same profile of behaviors as a freeplay context without altering diagnostic classifications. (Author/JDD)

The visual acuity of 8 children, aged 2-7, with low vision and multiple handicaps was effectively tested using the Teller Acuity Cards and a preferential-looking procedure with operant modification. This inexpensive procedure was found to be suitable for at-home testing by itinerant vision specialists in developing countries or rural areas. (DB)

Cognitive holding power is defined as a characteristic of the learning setting that presses students into different kinds of cognitive activity. Development of an instrument to measure cognitive holding power and studies of the instrument's reliability with over 1,500 Australian technical college students are reported. (SLD)

A set of Q-sort items to assess individual differences in infant-mother attachment was adapted for a Hispanic population of low-SES background. Completion of the Q-sort by observers and inner-city Hispanic mothers and testing of 43 infants with the Ainsworth Strange Situation established the Q-set's validity and indicated moderate reliability for…