A new measure of women's relationships, the Relational Health Indices (RHI), comprises three scales that assess growth-fostering connections with peers, mentors, and communities. The RHI was developed using the Relational Model (Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, Surrey, 1991; Miller & Stiver, 1997), a theory of women's psychological development.…

Assessment of the overarching self-regulatory mechanisms, or executive functions, in any age group is challenging, in part due to the complexity of this domain, in part due to their dynamic essence, and in part due to the inextricable links between these central processes and the associated domain-specific processes, such as language, motor…

Objective: The research was conducted to determine the relationship between violent trauma, child abuse history, and dissociative symptoms in a Russian population. Method: Three hundred and one undergraduate students from Moscow State Linguistics University participated in the study and completed the Dissociation Continuum Scale, the Violence…

Despite anecdotal evidence suggesting that air travel is personally demanding, little research has examined air travel stress. To address these issues, the author developed and evaluated the 1st known measure of air travel stress-the Air Travel Stress Scale-in 3 studies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated 3 components: (a)…

The diagnosis of developmental dyslexia (DD) is reliant on a discrepancy between intellectual functioning and reading achievement. Discrepancy-based formulae have frequently been employed to establish the significance of the difference between "intelligence" and "actual" reading achievement. These formulae, however, often fail to take into…

Specialists in the field of large-scale, high-stakes writing assessment have, over the last forty years alternately discussed the issue of maximizing either reliability or validity in test design. Factors complicating the debate--such as Messick's (1989) expanded definition of validity, and the ethical implications of testing--are explored. An…

This paper focuses on two key aspects of self-evaluation in adult education and training through the perspective of (a) a social-cognitive framework which is used to categorise those factors that enhance self-efficacy and self-evaluation, and (b) the accuracy of self-evaluation. The social-cognitive framework categorises the factors that enhance…

Empathy has been suggested to facilitate effective collaborative problem solving in children. The current study adapted the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI, Davis, 1980), a well-validated empathy measure for adults, for use with children aged 8 and 9 years. Four hundred and thirteen school children aged between 7;11 and 9;11 years completed…

Each year for the past 25 years, the Center for Gifted Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock conducts a three-week summer enrichment program for gifted and talented students entitled Summer Laureate/University for Youth. The program was developed to provide a practicum experience for teachers seeking either licensure or a master's…

Single equation regression models have been used rather extensively to test the effectiveness of Supplemental Instruction (SI). This approach, however, fails to account for the possibility that SI attendance and the outcome of SI attendance are jointly determined endogenous variables. Moreover, the standard approach fails to account for the fact…

This study examined the construct validity of the "e-rater"® automated essay scoring engine as an alternative to human scoring in the context of TOEFL® essay writing. Analyses were based on a sample of students who repeated the TOEFL within a short time period. Two "e-rater" scores were investigated in this study, the first…

In this qualitative study, various professionals in specialized schools for students who are visually impaired provided information on assessment tools; how information was used to plan Individualized Education Programs; and their opinions on the reliability, validity, and usefulness of various measurements. The implications of the findings for…

Background: Likert-type scales are increasingly being used among people with intellectual disability (ID). These scales offer an efficient method for capturing a wide range of variance in self-reported attitudes and behaviours. This review is an attempt to evaluate the reliability and validity of Likert-type scales in people with ID. Methods:…

Assessment of student performance is critical for developing effective instructional policy and designing programs responsive to individual students' needs. To gauge the adequacy of available assessment tools for achieving these ends, the Reading First Assessment Committee (RFAC) developed criteria for evaluating the adequacy of reading measures…

Background: The ComFor (Forerunners in Communication) is an instrument to explore underlying competence for augmentative communication. More specifically, it measures perception and sense-making of non-transient forms of communication at the levels of presentation and representation. The target group consists primarily of individuals with autism…